A Douglas County judge ordered a 13-year-old connected to the 2024 killing of Uber driver Mursal Jama to stay locked up at the Douglas County Youth Center. Judge Chad Brown called him a serious threat to the community.
The order follows a return home that rehabilitation officials had backed only two months ago, WOWT reported. The teen was 11 when Jama was killed. His case was later dismissed after medical professionals said he was not competent to stand trial, and he spent nearly two years away for rehabilitation. Juvenile court in his case is aimed at rehabilitation rather than punishment.
A Return That Did Not Hold
In September, rehabilitation officials told the judge he was ready to go home, attend public school and live with his mother in Omaha. The state later argued that readiness did not survive contact with a classroom. It said there were at least four instances of him punching or threatening middle-school students in September and October.
Investigators allege he stole one car and was working with other juveniles to steal two more. His mother said she did not know where he was because he had turned off the location tracker on his phone. His curfew the day before was 6 p.m.
He was arrested at 3:30 a.m. on a Thursday in October in the neighborhood of 38th and Decatur streets. WOWT also reported that Omaha police arrested him last week on new charges. Court documents indicate he said he is gang-affiliated. The station did not identify those new charges in enough detail to say exactly what they are.
His lawyer argued he had been doing well and got involved with the wrong group of juveniles. Brown was not persuaded to send him back out. The judge ordered him to remain in the locked youth center.
The 2024 Killing
Jama, 64, was fatally shot on Aug. 13, 2024, outside his home, the Omaha World-Herald reported. Six people were arrested in connection with the carjacking and killing.
Investigators said the then-11-year-old was with five older teens who broke into a gun store in Nebraska City and stole guns. They said the group returned to Nebraska City for more guns just before police began chasing them, and that the group terrorized at least two drivers before Jama was killed.
The case against the youngest person was dismissed on competency grounds. That dismissal did not end the court's involvement. He was sent away for nearly two years to get help, and the question before Brown this week was whether that help had held once he was back in Omaha.
Competency And Where He Goes Next
Brown ordered a competency hearing and asked the parties to consider what an out-of-home placement could look like. The two sides are due back in court in three weeks to discuss placement options. The hearing has not yet settled whether he is competent, and the court has not chosen a placement.
WOWT has reported prison sentences for older defendants in the same case. Those accounts do not line up on the length of the terms, so the precise sentences are not restated here. What is clear in Thursday's order is narrower: a 13-year-old whom officials said in September was ready for public school is, for now, back in locked detention, with competency and an out-of-home placement still ahead of him.
