One in custody, another on the loose in 2021 shooting death of St. Louis boy

Enysha Brown, 7, left, and Kylie Smith, 8, watch as balloons rise into the sky during a “Golden Birthday” celebration in Tower Grove Park for their cousin, Kathon Terrell Moore Jr., Monday night, March 18, 2024 on what would have been Moore’s 18th birthday. Last week, prosecutors charged two men with murdering the 14-year-old in 2021 by throwing him from his bicycle and shooting him in the head before stealing his marijuana.

A St. Louis police officer walks toward Hodiamont and Etzel avenues, where a 14-year-old boy was gunned down on March 8, 2021, in the city's West End neighborhood.

Kathon Terrell Moore Jr.

UPDATED at 3:15 p.m. Wednesday with reaction from victim’s grandmothers.

ST. LOUIS — Prosecutors this week charged two men with murdering a boy in 2021 by throwing him from his bicycle and shooting him in the head before stealing his marijuana.

Omarion Chantez Mays, 19, was in custody Wednesday, and authorities say his accomplice is believed to be hiding in the Atlanta area.

Both men are charged in the March 8, 2021, shooting death of 14-year-old Kathon Terrell Moore Jr.

Omarion Chantez Mays

Police asked that the accomplice’s name not be released until his arrest. At-large warrants were issued against him Tuesday. Detectives have teamed up with U.S. marshals to arrest the second man.

The man on the loose is 22. He is charged with first-degree murder because police say he is the one who pulled the trigger. Mays is charged with second-degree murder. The second-degree charge alleges Mays was at the murder scene while taking part in the crime of robbery.

Each is also charged with first-degree robbery and two counts of armed criminal action.

Family and friends released balloons on what would have been the "golden birthday" -- the 18th birthday of Kathon Terrell Moore, Jr., who was …

Court records don’t explain why it took three years to make a case against the two suspects. Police said the charges came because the new administration at the St. Louis circuit attorney’s office took a fresh look at the case, “opinions changed” and the case was issued.

The charges were filed Tuesday, just a few days after the three-year anniversary of Kathon’s death.

“It takes a toll on me, I’m not going to lie,” his maternal grandmother, Doris Finley, said in an interview Wednesday. “Every day I think of him because he was like my baby.”

Kathon Terrell Moore Jr.

Finley, 68, said her grandson’s death was a huge loss to the family, but especially for Kathon’s mother, America Dean. Kathon was her only child.

Kathon was found dead near 1142 Hodiamont Avenue in the city’s West End neighborhood at about 5:20 p.m. that March day. Kathon lived in the 5800 block of Etzel Avenue, about a half-mile from the shooting scene.

Kathon was a freshman at Soldan High School and would have graduated this May, Finley said. He attended an international language school since the age of 5 and spoke French.

“It’s been hard,” Finley said. “We (are) still grieving.”

A key witness is an 11-year-old friend of Kathon, according to court papers. The friend identified Mays as the person who first assaulted Kathon.

Finley said the younger boy recognized Mays in a Facebook post. Mays, in turn, gave detectives the name of the gunman who killed Kathon, St. Louis police Detective Benjamin Lacy said in court documents.

Finley said Mays was picked up shortly after the killing and kept at a juvenile facility but never charged as an adult and eventually released.

Now facing murder charges, Mays was in custody Wednesday at the St. Louis jail and held without bond. Mays was arrested Sunday on a misdemeanor trespassing charge after police say he stole a backpack from a guard’s shack at a MetroLink station on DeBaliviere Avenue. He lives in the 500 block of Pershing Avenue in St. Louis.

Finley said Kathon’s family is happy that prosecutors finally filed murder charges, noting that some cases are never solved.

“For three years to pass by so quick, I give my hands to the detectives working the case, especially Detective Lacy,” Finley said.

Over the years, Finley would talk to police for updates every few months or so and pass along the information to Kathon’s paternal grandmother, Charlotte Moore. When she heard about the charges this week, Charlotte Moore told a reporter, “I’m extremely relieved.”

Surveillance video showed the assault, police said. Kathon was pulled off his bike and then shot in the head.

The 11-year-old boy who saw the first suspect grab Kathon and start fighting him rode away on another bike to get help before Kathon was shot, Finley said. When he returned to the scene with an older friend, Kathon was already dead.

At Kathon’s funeral in spring 2021, several large framed photos of the wide-grinned boy were on display next to his dark-blue casket. The photos featured Kathon celebrating a sports win and holding an award from the language school.

Duane Belford, a local pastor, is a cousin to Finley. Belford mentioned to mourners at the funeral “the crazy season that we’re in, not only with the pandemic but just with the problems of St. Louis itself.” Belford is a chaplain for the St. Louis homicide division.

Belford said Kathon died “not by drowning, not by getting hit by a car on his bike but senselessly and tragically killed.”

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch tracks the data behind reported homicides on an interactive map that allows readers to explore information in various ways.

Explore the homicide tracker.

American Dean, holds the number 8 balloon at a "Golden 18th Birthday" balloon release for her son Kathon Terrell Moore Jr. on Monday, March 18, 2024, in Tower Grove Park. Family and friends gathered to remember Moore, who was murdered on March 8, 2021, when he was only 14 years old. Photo by Laurie Skrivan, [email protected]

American Dean, right, plays a video her son explaining how he made hole in the wall at a "Golden 18th Birthday" balloon release for her son Kathon Terrell Moore Jr. on Monday, March 18, 2024, in Tower Grove Park. To the left is his cousin De'Shea Gray. Family and friends gathered to remember Moore, who was murdered on March 8, 2021, when he was only 14 years old. Photo by Laurie Skrivan, [email protected]

American Dean, center, records as balloons rise into the sky at a "Golden 18th Birthday" balloon release for her son Kathon Terrell Moore Jr. on Monday, March 18, 2024, in Tower Grove Park. Family and friends gathered to remember Moore, who was murdered on March 8, 2021, when he was only 14 years old. Photo by Laurie Skrivan, [email protected]

"Blue was his favorite color," said Doris Finley, who attends a "Golden 18th Birthday" balloon release for her grandson Kathon Terrell Moore Jr. on Monday, March 18, 2024, in Tower Grove Park. Family and friends gathered to remember Moore, who was murdered on March 8, 2021, when he was only14 years old. Photo by Laurie Skrivan, [email protected]

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The boy was identified Tuesday night as 14-year-old Kathon Moore.

A St. Louis grand jury in April indicted Omarion Chantez Mays and James Jamel Blake on charges of first-degree murder, first-degree robbery an…