PONTIAC, Mich. – The 16-year-old believed to be involved in the killing of Robert Lee is now facing an assault with intent to murder charge in connection to a separate shooting in Pontiac, according to the Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office.
The shooting happened on Sept. 20 outside a grocery store near Martin Luther King Boulevard and Perry Street.
Prosecutors said store surveillance video shows a fight between two young men and the 16-year-old getting out of a vehicle and firing shots.
This took place at the same intersection where Lee was killed nine days later at a Coney Island restaurant.
Background: Pontiac man known to pose as teen girl online to catch predators was shot, killed during argument
Prosecutors said an 18-year-old man involved the fight on Sept. 20 was also present for the Sept. 29 shooting.
The prosecutor’s office said it’s too early to say whether the shootings are connected.
Lee was known to use social media to pose as an underage girl to catch sexual predators.
Investigators said on Sept. 29, Lee confronted two men at a Coney Island. Lee accused the 18-year-old of being a pedophile and punched him, they said.
Investigators said the other individual, a 16-year-old boy, pulled out a gun and shot Lee several times.
But there’s no evidence that the confrontation was part of a planned meeting or a sting operation, investigators said.
The 16-year-old boy will be tried as an adult on the assault with intent to murder charge, but if convicted the prosecutor’s office said the judge would have the three options in sentencing. They said the teen could receive a juvenile, adult or a blended sentence which incorporates both juvenile rehabilitation and adult punishment.
He has not been charged in the fatal shooting of Lee. The prosecutor’s office is asking for patience while that case is being investigated.