Prosecutors have charged the father of a teenager accused in the fatal shooting of 12-year-old London Bean, alleging that the man encouraged his son to retaliate against a neighbor's family for perceived bullying.
Letterance Grady, 40, faces charges of aiding and abetting second-degree murder, aiding and abetting attempted second-degree murder and harboring a fugitive, according to a criminal complaint filed Friday in Hennepin County District Court.
Grady was arrested Thursday and booked into the Hennepin County jail, where he was being held on $1 million bond. He is expected to make his initial court appearance on Monday. No attorney was listed in court records.
He was arrested four days after his son, Jeremiah Grady, turned himself in to police. Authorities said that Jeremiah's mother called the Rev. Jerry McAfee, of New Salem Missionary Baptist Church, to arrange the arrest to ensure it went smoothly.
Bean was shot Sept. 8 outside Jeremiah Grady's apartment building at N. 8th and Aldrich avenues in north Minneapolis after getting into a fight with another boy, believed to be Grady's younger brother.
According to court documents, Grady fired off several shots, two of which struck Bean in the chest and abdomen. The shooting apparently stemmed from a simmering neighborhood dispute.
In the weeks after Bean's killing, Letterance Grady spoke several times with homicide investigators. He initially denied being present at the time of the shooting, authorities said, reportedly telling police that he only learned about it from his children's mother and that before the shooting Jeremiah had asked to borrow his vehicle.
Court documents say Letterance Grady described being told how Jeremiah's siblings had been jumped the day before, and that there had been "an ongoing feud and bullying" between some neighborhood children.
But several family members told police that on the day of the shooting, Letterance Grady had encouraged Jeremiah and his brother to retaliate against the Bean family with violence, according to authorities. They said that Letterance Grady had not only driven Jeremiah to the scene, but helped his son elude police afterward.
Authorities said that the father was identified in part through surveillance video that showed a person matching his description running toward the parking lot after the shooting.
Moments later, according to the footage, a white Hyundai Santa Fe drove out of the lot — a vehicle that investigators found was registered to Letterance Grady's wife and Jeremiah's stepmother.
Jeremiah Grady, who was charged by warrant a week after the shooting because authorities didn't know his whereabouts, is being held at the Hennepin County jail on $1 million bond. His next court date is set for Nov. 30.
Staff writer Christina Saint Louis contributed to this report.
Libor Jany • 612-673-4064
Twitter: @StribJany
