10-year-old boy fatally shot in Foothill Farms. Sacramento sheriff arrests boy, 10, and his dad

A 10-year-old boy and his father were arrested Saturday on suspicion of shooting another 10-year-old boy, killing him, and trying to dispose of an illegal firearm after the fact, the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office said.

Deputies responded at 4:30 p.m. to the 4700 block of Greenholme Drive in Foothill Farms after receiving reports of a shooting. When they arrived, they found a boy lying unresponsive in a parking lot. He was bleeding from his head and neck and deputies performed life-saving measures until fire personnel arrived, the Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.

The victim was identified by coroner’s officials as Keith Jhay Frierson, 10; the boy was later pronounced dead at the hospital.

Deputies at the scene learned from witnesses that the suspects fled into a nearby four-plex. They “called out” to the suspects and detained a man and two juveniles without incident, Sheriff’s Office spokesman Sgt. Amar Gandhi said.

Detectives responded to the scene and learned one of the detained juveniles, a 10-year-old boy, had gone to his father’s car to get cigarettes for him. He found a gun inside the car and “and bragged that his father had a gun,” according to the news release. The boy allegedly shot the gun once, striking the victim, and fled the scene.

Deputies reported finding the firearm in a nearby trash can, where they believe the boy’s father tried to dispose of it. The father was identified as Arkete Davis, 53.

“Detectives confirmed that Davis was legally prohibited from owning or possessing a firearm,” the Sheriff’s Office said. “The recovered firearm was also reported stolen in 2017.”

Sacramento County Sheriff Jim Cooper called the incident “tragic and completely avoidable.”

“As more details of the incident come to light, there is definitely a concern about irresponsible parenting and that an ex-felon was illegally in possession of a firearm that led to this young boy’s murder,” Cooper said on X, the social media platform once called Twitter. “Not to be missed, all this happened in front of another 6-year-old child who saw the whole thing. The trauma that child experienced always gets overlooked.”

Cooper said that of the 34 Sacramento County homicides in 2023 that involved a firearm, “76% of them were committed by people not allowed by law to have a gun in the first place.”

“We cannot let this boy’s murder be a one-day news story and forgotten about by tomorrow morning,” Cooper wrote. “The issue of illegally possessing guns by those who should not have them and using them to commit violent crimes is a real one. One that the Sheriff’s Department will address in 2024.”

Davis was arrested on suspicion of child endangerment, accessory after the fact and several felony firearm-related charges. He is being held in lieu of $500,000 bail.

His son was transported to the Sacramento County Youth Detention Facility where he was booked on suspicion of homicide.

This story was originally published December 31, 2023 at 12:11 PM.