A 16-year-old accused of robbing and killing 60-year-old Ali Elbanna outside a Dallas Costco last year has been indicted by a Dallas County grand jury.
Police said Cameron Range, who turns 17 this month, was the gunman in the armed robbery that took Elbanna's life. Our partners at KRLD said the grand jury returned indictments of capital murder and three counts of aggravated robbery.
Last month Judge Cheryl Shannon of the 305th Dallas County Juvenile District Court certified Range to stand trial for capital murder as an adult.
Prosecutors argued in that hearing that Range simply wasn't fit to stay in Texas' juvenile justice system, given his age, the severity of the alleged crime, and an offending history in the Dallas County juvenile system dating back to the age of 12.
Get DFW local news, weather forecasts and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC DFW newsletters.
Shannon ruled from the bench, concluding the alleged "willful and violent" act involved the use of a deadly weapon, coupled with Range not responding to prior juvenile interventions and being on probation at the time, led to the decision to transfer him to adult court.
A trial date has not yet been set.
Local
The latest news from around North Texas.
If convicted of capital murder Range would be sentenced to life in prison without parole. Due to his age, he is not eligible for the death penalty.
ALI ELBANNA MURDER
Ali Elbanna, of Arlington, was shot and killed outside the Costco Business Center on Park Lane on Nov. 16, 2021.
According to police reports, Elbanna was loading groceries into his vehicle just before 7 p.m. when he was approached by four people who robbed and shot him.
Dallas Police later arrested four people accused in the crime, including three who faced charges of capital murder along with multiple counts of aggravated robbery for offenses that were alleged to have occurred earlier in the day.
Dallas Police said the group, identified in arrest affidavits as James Levels, Jacoby Bryce Tatum, Janiya Lashay Miller, along with a then-unnamed juvenile boy, "demanded property," and that during the robbery the juvenile shot the man once.
In the arresting documents obtained in November 2021, the three adults agreed to waive their rights and talk with detectives without an attorney. Police said each admitted to having committed at least two other robberies before the fatal shooting in the Costco parking lot and that Levels admitted that the gun used in the murder was his.
