Cedar Rapids police make arrest in shooting death of 15-year-old

CEDAR RAPIDS - Loise Brown says she'll pray for the Kennedy High School freshman accused of killing her teenage son.

'We all need prayer, but he's really going to need prayer,” Brown said. 'He has to live with the fact that he took another person's life.”

During a news conference Thursday, Cedar Rapids Police Chief Wayne Jerman said that Robert Humbles, 14, of Cedar Rapids, was brought to the station Wednesday by a family member. Humbles was later arrested on a first-degree murder charge, a Class A felony.

If tried as an adult and convicted, the 14-year-old could spend the rest of his life in jail.

Iowa prohibits police from releasing photos of juveniles, so Humbles' arrest photo was not available. However, it is The Gazette's practice to name juveniles facing felony charges, particularly a murder count.

On Sunday night, Aaron K. Richardson, 15, was shot in the proximity of Redmond Park and ran to a house in the 300 block of 16th Street SE for help. He died later after surgery.

The arrest comes as police are coping with 75 shootings or shots fired incidents in the city so far this year, including two this week that investigators believe are related to Aaron's death.

Bown said she learned about the arrest Thursday afternoon. The news brought mixed feelings.

'I wasn't happy because another child's life is gone,” she said. 'He's going to spend the rest of his life in jail. But, I'm glad there's justice for my son. ... I want to bury him in peace.”

Chief Jerman, noting the shootings Monday and Tuesday remain open cases, said he could not provide specifics of Humbles' arrest.

'We were contacted by a family member and advised they wanted to bring Mr. Humbles to us to be interviewed,” Jerman said. 'I'm not going to go into the details of what the interview contained other than it resulted in him being charged with first-degree murder.”

Police said Thursday they believe Sunday's fatal shooting occurred in the 1600 block of Park Avenue. Jerman said he does not know what Aaron was doing in the moments before the shooting. He said Aaron was not armed when police found him, and they do not believe the two teens exchanged gunfire.

Jerman declined to say whether investigators recovered the weapon used in the killing.

'It greatly saddens me that, first of all, a 15-year-old child has lost his life and a mother has lost his son and will never have him back,” Jerman said. 'It saddens me that a 14-year-old has been … charged with this very heinous crime.”

He added, 'We need, now more than ever, to put forth this message even stronger: the parents of these children to engage, they need to be involved in their children's lives.”

Brown said she brought her six children - two sons and four daughters - to Cedar Rapids in November 2013 to escape the violence of Chicago's South Side.

'It was really dangerous in Chicago,” she said. 'I knew I had two young boys and I knew I needed to come here to stay safe.”

Aaron was a good basketball player and a 'great leader,” Brown said. He had recently started writing poetry.

'He had a lot of talent,” she said.

Brown said she has relied on her faith in getting her through this tragedy. She hopes others will turn to God to put a halt to ongoing violence in the city.

Humbles was taken to the Linn County Juvenile Detention Center.

Assistant Linn County attorney Bill Croghan said Humbles will have a hearing, likely next week, for a judge to determine if the case will be moved into adult court. The hearing has not yet been scheduled.

Trish Mehaffey of The Gazette contributed to this report.