A Buffalo teenager has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in last year's violent killing of a 13-year-old over a stolen cell phone. Jean Sanchez, who is now 14, admitted to the strangulation death of Ameer Al-Shammari in May of 2014. Al-Shammari was beaten and sexually assaulted in a vacant lot off Amherst Street in Black Rock.
Prosecutors say Sanchez lured Al-Shammari to the field after stealing his cell phone, which was a gift from his parents for doing well in school. The young Iraqi teen had come to the U.S. with his family 18 months earlier to escape violence in his home country.
Sanchez was charged as an adult. He faces a sentence of nine years to life in prison in December.
