OAKLAND — When authorities here announced last month they’d arrested a juvenile in the killing of a 46-year-old liquor store clerk, they omitted a shocking detail: the suspected murderer is only 13 years old.
Not only that, authorities say the 13-year-old boy who allegedly shot and killed Maged Alazzani went on to commit an armed robbery at another convenience store 40 minutes later, and is suspected in a Target robbery the following day. He is the youngest local murder suspect in recent memory.
The teen boy, an Oakland resident who turns 14 in July, has been charged with murder and attempted robbery in the Jan. 6 shooting of Alazzani, who was killed inside the Orlando Market on Linden Street in West Oakland, which his family owns. The boy has also been charged with robbing Jax Liquors in Oakland roughly 40 minutes later, authorities said.
In both instances, the boy had a male accomplice, but authorities say they’re still working to identify him.
The two robbers entered the Orlando Market a little after 8 p.m., the 13-year-old allegedly brandishing a firearm. When they got to the counter, the boy racked the gun and pointed it at Alazzani, who allegedly grabbed the barrel of the pistol and attempted to wrestle the gun away.
Authorities say that’s when the youngster pulled the trigger. Alazzani was shot in the chest.
“It’s shocking. He is not coming home anymore. All the kids, they are just getting used it,” Maged Alazzani’s eldest of four children, Amjad Alazzani, told ABC7 News.
Roughly 40 minutes later, the two went to Jax Liquors on Foothill Boulevard at 5th Avenue, grabbed some sugary beverages from the refrigerator, and placed them on the counter. Then one of them allegedly took out a gun and ordered the clerk to empty his register.
“Give me the money,” one of the robbers allegedly said. “I’m not joking.”
According to authorities, the two are also suspected in a robbery at Target in Emeryville the following day, but no charges have been filed yet in that case.
The 13-year-old boy is being prosecuted as a juvenile, which limits his possible term of confinement if convicted to no longer than his 25th birthday. That would be in 2036. Under a state law passed in 2018, anyone younger than 16 cannot be charged as an adult in California.
