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Teenager Kills Michigan Democratic Party Official After Asking Him For A Dollar, Police Say

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Ilan Hulkower Contributor
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A 15-year-old boy shot a prominent Michigan Democrat to death on Sunday after asking him for a dollar, police say.

Police identified the shooter as Lamar Patrick Kemp and the victim as Theodore “Ted” Lawson, the Lansing State Journal reported Monday. Lawson was knocking on doors for a Lansing city council candidate when he was murdered, per the outlet.

Ingham County Prosecutor John Dewane told the press he was charging the teenager as an adult due to the nature of the crime, the Journal reported. (RELATED: Blue State Politicians Still Have Posts On Twitter Praising Murdered Journalist Accused Of Having Sex With 15 Year Old)

Lansing Police Chief Ellery Sosebee said the teenager’s motives were not political, the outlet reported. “The senseless murder of Theodore Lawson speaks to the careless mindset of a very small section of our most violent offenders … It is too often [that] these acts of violence are by youthful offenders with no value of consequence or accountability. I applaud Prosecutor Dewane for his firm stance on gun violence,” Sosebee said, per the Journal.

“It hits home to us as a close friend, and you can imagine how many other people out there who, when they lose a close one to gun violence, it’s just it’s tragic, and it’s painful, and it needs to stop,” Brian Jackson, who chairs of the Ingham County Democratic Party, told CBS News.

Jackson recalled Lawson’s past military service and his leadership of a union as evidence that he was a man who was “just doing what needed to be done,” the outlet reported.

Michigan Democrats tweeted a similar message on Monday. “We are shocked and saddened by the loss of Ted Lawson, a committed volunteer who dedicated so much of his life to making his community, and Michigan, a better place for all. Our thoughts are with his loved ones and anyone affected by this senseless tragedy,” they wrote.