14-year-old wearing electronic home monitoring device when he shot, killed 17-year-old, police say

PITTSBURGH — Police say a 14-year-old was wearing an electronic home monitoring device when he shot and killed a 17-year-old Monday.

Nigel Thompson was booked into jail on Wednesday afternoon.

Sources shared with Channel 11 News his dad brought him to family court Wednesday afternoon to turn him in for murder.

Police said an electronic ankle monitor gave them evidence to charge him with the crime.

But on Wednesday Channel 11 News tried to get answers about why it didn’t prevent the crime.

Thompson was on home detention wearing an electronic ankle monitor when he killed 17-year-old Damonte Hardrick earlier this week.

But officials said this isn’t the first time the monitoring system has failed.

“The kid that shot at the funeral just came in and came out somebody released him,” said District Attorney, Stephen Zappala.

Just earlier this month District Attorney Stephen Zappala criticized the system. Zappala called it a dangerous failure, after Shawn Davis - one of the teens accused of injuring six people outside a funeral was seen on video taking his ankle monitor on and off jokingly while on a video call with a friend

“Sometimes they come in and they go back out within 24 hours later, imagine what that does in the neighborhood when you are trying to build trust,” Zappala said.

However, according to a criminal complaint, Thompson was able to do the same thing- remove his ankle monitor after murdering Hardrick.

Police said cameras on Brownsville Road captured Thompson leaving his home committing the crime and then returning home all within just 14 minutes. Police added that the electric ankle monitor tracked his location from his home to the crime scene which they said matched that surveillance footage.

But we still have big questions including:

• Why was Thompson wearing an ankle monitor in the first place?
• Will these incidents influence how juveniles are charged in the future?
• And are there plans to revise the ankle monitoring system?

No one from the district attorney’s office or courts would answer those today despite these comments from the da just weeks ago.

“Dangerous people are being released pretty quickly,” Zappala said.

Thompson is in custody at the Allegheny County Jail facing several charges including criminal homicide.

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