JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — UPDATE: Cleo Bentley has entered a not guilty plea.
Some 8 months after a 16-year-old was fatally shot near FSCJ's Deerwood Campus, the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office is announcing the arrest of a suspect.
Jacksonville police say good police work and forensic evidence led to them identifying the suspect as 28-year-old Cleo Bentley.
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Police say Bentley was arrested on June 12 in Phoenix, Arizona, on an unrelated armed robbery warrant out of Jacksonville, but has since been extradited and booked into the Duval County Jail.
Police say Bentley and another individual are accused of approaching three people in a car at an apartment complex off of Old Baymeadows Road on December 14, 2018, and attempting to rob them.
But investigators say the three victims attempted to flee, at which time Bentley is accused of shooting into the car. We're told the driver was shot, but survived. However, the 16-year-old passenger was killed.
JSO is stressing the importance of locking up your vehicle, as they say the gun used in this murder was stolen from an unlocked vehicle in Jacksonville back in October 2017.
Bentley is now charged with murder, attempted murder, and three counts of armed robbery.
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