JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — An arrest has been made in the December shooting death of a teenager in Mandarin.
Colton Moore, 19, has been charged with murder.
Officers responded to 10200 Old St. Augustine Road, Coopers Hawk Apartments, and found Derek Pitts, 16, shot around 11:30 p.m. on Dec. 29. The Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department took Pitts to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead.
JSO highlighted an "influx of tips" during their investigation. Moore, who was already in custody at the Pre-Trial Detention Facility on unrelated charges, was arrested Friday.
Pitts' family had offered a reward of $10,000 for information relating to the shooting death.
Pitts was a party with a group of kids, according to his aunt Bernadette Howarth.
"There was supposedly some argument or disagreement and the people left,” Howarth said.
Police said there was a large group of juveniles in the area when an altercation occurred between two groups of individuals, with a suspect producing a firearm, shooting the victim and fleeing on foot. The sheriff's office said there were several witnesses detained and taken to the Police Memorial Building to be interviewed.
“We called him 'Dibbs.' His father gave him that nickname when he was a baby I don’t really know where it came from, but it stuck just a joyful funny kid," Howarth said.
Feb. 1 would have been Pitts' 17th birthday.