BOSTON, June 30, 2016—The Suffolk County Grand Jury has returned indictments charging a 16-year-old juvenile with the fatal stabbing of 15-year-old Deon Hopkins earlier this year, District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.

The indictments, returned yesterday afternoon, charge AMARI POPE (D.O.B. 10/5/99) of Dorchester with second-degree murder and misleading a police investigator. They supersede a Dorchester Municipal Court complaint on which Pope was arraigned the day after Hopkins’ Feb. 21 stabbing death. Pope will be arraigned on the indictments in Suffolk Superior Court on July 17.

Prosecutors say Hopkins suffered a fatal stab wound during an afternoon encounter with Pope on Columbia Road. Pope allegedly saw the victim approaching, retrieved a knife, and then followed and stabbed him. After the stabbing, Pope allegedly destroyed and secreted evidence, including the knife.

Responding Boston Police officers learned of Pope’s involvement in the stabbing shortly after the homicide. Pope alleged made statements during a subsequent interview and homicide detectives later placed him under arrest based on evidence and witness statements gathered during the hours that followed.

Eliana Builes is the DA’s assigned victim-witness advocate. Pope is represented by attorney David Apfel.

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All defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.