A Pennsylvania teenager was fatally shot on Saturday while attempting to escape from a registered sex offender who was trying to kidnap him, according to authorities. The teenager was running naked on the street and pleading for his life, when the slaying happened in front of several people in broad daylight. The teenager was rushed to the hospital where he later succumbed to his injuries.
Police arrived at the scene and arrested the suspect after one of the witnesses called 911 and informed about the tragic incident. Upon arriving, officers located a suspect who was fleeing the area. Cops pursued the suspect and arrested him.
Shot in Broad Daylight
Kayan King, 16, was seen running naked near 18th street and Forster streets, in Harrisburg on Saturday after being chased by 45-year-old Orlando P. Duarte who was trying to kidnap him. It is still not known if King was already kidnapped and was trying to flee from the clutches of Duarte, when he was shot and killed from behind around noon.
According to one of the witnesses, neighbors and bystanders could hear the boy yell for help before shots were fired. "He was pleading for his life," Tracy Burton recalled. Moments after the shooting unfolded, Burton called 911 to inform police about the gory killing of the teenager.
Upon arriving, officers located a suspect who was fleeing the area on foot. The officers pursued the suspect and arrested him. Duarte was armed with a handgun while chasing the teen victim. Witnesses said that the suspect had fired multiple shots at King.
Repeat Offender
King was immediately rushed to the hospital where he later died of his wounds. According to police, King tried to run and cut between houses in the neighborhood to escape as Duarte pursued him with the gun. As the bystanders made their way toward the houses, they could hear the boy shouting for help. The neighbors had been calling out to the boy, she said, but stopped approaching when they heard the shots.
However, the teenager got trapped between the houses as there was a fence. Burton said she counted five shots. According to criminal records, this isn't the only law enforcement tail on Duarte. He had served time in state prison for sexually assaulting a six-year-old girl who had been left in his care on several occasions in 2010 and is listed as a lifetime sex offender.
Back in 2012, when Duarte was sentenced to four-to-eight years in state prison for that sexual assault, Dauphin County Judge Scott Evans also placed a 10-year term of probation on Duarte that would not start until he was out of prison.
Apart from not being able to live with anyone under 18, a 2017 Board of Probation and Parole decision barred Duarte from maintaining any kind of relationship with a youth that wasn't expressly approved in writing by his parole officer, including talking, writing letters, buying presents, emailing or texting, right on down to making physical gestures like waving or winking.
Duarte is now facing charges of criminal homicide and prohibited possession of a firearm. He is being held in Dauphin County Prison without bail. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for late September.
