Victim in Ventura County axe killing was suspect's 15-year-old brother

The sufferer of a brutal axe killing in Ventura County earlier this week has been recognized because the suspect’s youthful brother, his household confirmed late Friday.

Zayde Keohouho, 15, was killed by his older brother, 24-year-old Zuberi Sharp, within the 400 block of Jeanne Courtroom in an unincorporated space close to Newbury Park on Thursday, in response to authorities and the sufferer’s household.

“I’ll affirm that the deceased is our grandson, Zayde, who was 15 years previous,” his grandfather, Gary Keohouho, mentioned in a quick assertion Friday evening. “We respect the outpouring of affection, aloha, assist and prayers from mates and ohanas on this great group.”

Sharp was arrested Thursday evening after he was discovered operating bare by way of Newbury Park Excessive College’s soccer discipline, prompting a lockdown as a result of some college students had been nonetheless on the grounds, authorities mentioned. Sheriff’s deputies who had been chasing Sharp mentioned he was armed with an axe, in response to recordings of radio communications from the incident. The deputies additionally prompt the axe may be tied to the dying on Jeanne Courtroom, in response to the audio clips.

Jail data present Sharp was arrested round 8 p.m. on Thursday and booked on suspicion of homicide. He’s scheduled to seem in courtroom Monday morning, although prosecutors have but to formally file homicide fees within the case. Officers referred all inquiries to the sheriff’s division.

Sheriff’s deputies responded to a 911 name on Jeanne Courtroom on Thursday and located a “male juvenile” who had suffered “extreme trauma,” in response to a sheriff’s division information launch. The sufferer was pronounced lifeless at a hospital a short while later. Sharp was virtually instantly recognized because the suspect and brought into custody, officers mentioned.

Neither authorities nor Zayde’s household supplied a motive within the killing. On a GoFundMe web page searching for donations for the boy’s funeral bills, Zayde’s aunt mentioned her nephew’s “lovely soul was the middle of our household.”

“He cherished music, was a drummer and gave the warmest all encompassing hugs,” she wrote.

Authorities haven’t confirmed Zayde was the sufferer within the case, and a spokesman for the sheriff’s division didn’t reply to a name for remark Saturday morning.

The brutal killing is eerily much like a homicide Sharp’s father confessed to. Calvin Sharp used a meat cleaver to kill a 6-year-old boy, Sev’n Molina, in August 2007 and later informed investigators he acquired messages from XM Satellite tv for pc Radio ordering him to assault the kid and stab the boy’s mom, the Ventura County Star reported on the time.

Calvin Sharp went to Sandra Ruiz’s house with the intention of forcing her to have intercourse with him, prosecutors mentioned in an indictment. The 2 had dated however damaged up about six months earlier than the assault. Zuberi Sharp attended the identical preschool because the boy his father killed.

Calvin Sharp pleaded responsible in 2009, however a years-long courtroom battle adopted over whether or not he was competent to face trial. Finally, a choose deemed him sane and Calvin Sharp was sentenced to life with out parole.

Native authorities had a run-in with Zuberi Sharp simply hours earlier than they found his youthful brother had been killed, once they discovered him trapped in a storm drain, in response to Ventura County Sheriff’s Sgt. Monica Smith. He was rescued round 1 p.m. on Thursday close to the intersection of Borchard and Reino roads, a couple of half mile from the scene of the killing.

Andrew Dowd, a spokesman for the Ventura County Hearth Division, mentioned Sharp was trapped within the storm drain about three ft beneath grade. He was taken to a hospital for an analysis, however Dowd couldn’t present extra particulars.

Smith couldn’t say precisely when the killing occurred, nor would she affirm an axe was the weapon used to commit the assault.