DES MOINES — U.S. Marshals have taken into custody the 17-year-old teen wanted in the shooting at a Fox Valley mall that left one person dead last Sunday.
The Grand Chute Police Department announcedThursday that Marshals arrested Dezman V. Ellis without incident in Des Moines, Iowa. The arrested followed an "exhaustive, around the clock fugitive investigation" involving the Marshal's Great Lakes Regional Fugitive Task Force and other departments.
Ellis was wanted for 1st-degree intentional homicide and 1st-degree recklessly endangering safety in connection to the fatal shooting of 19-year-old Jovanni J. Frausto and the injury of another victim at Fox River Mall in Grand Chute.
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The criminal complaint
A criminal complaint states officers were dispatched to the Fox River Mall on Sunday, Jan. 31, at 3:43 p.m. after receiving a call that a shooting took place. According to Det. Keuler of the Grand Chute Police Department, Frausto's girlfriend stated her, her boyfriend and her niece randomly encountered Ellis and three other girls they were familiar with near Forever 21 within the mall. The report then states Ellis and Frausto exchanged words and the issue was over one of the girls in the group, who the victim had previously dated.
According to the complaint, Ellis stated, "back up... back up. I will shoot this place up. I'll kill you." According to the report, the shooter flashed a gun and Frausto started running before Ellis chased after him.
Per another witness in the report, one of the girls in Ellis' group, Frausto and the shooter started threatening each other. She says Ellis then fired two shots near the mall's food court. According to the complaint, the witness then drove Ellis and his current girlfriend back to his apartment.
Officer Vandenberg reports he spoke with one girl in Ellis' group, who said she believes Ellis still had the gun with him after the shooting. She says the four in the group ended up leaving the mall together.
According to Det. Teigen in the complaint, another victim of the shooting was shot in the hip area. That victim, who lived, says they heard someone say "drop the gun" before they were shot. The victim and a friend ran into Scheels.
The criminal complaint also states two 9mm spent shell casings were located at the scene.
According to the complaint, a man who lives in Ellis apartment complex says he witnessed Ellis and his brother loading up a blue Dodge Avenger with clothing and other items before police arrived.
The complaint states Frausto was shot in the chest when he was discovered at the scene and an officer could not find a pulse. Per the autopsy, Frausto's cause of death was a gunshot wound to his chest, and another to his arm and back.
In the complaint, Ellis' brother Ralph says Dezman admitted to shooting someone twice at the mall. Police have not yet found the whereabouts of the shooter.
