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UPDATE: Police identify teen found shot to death

By Anna Marie Hartman - bio | email | Twitter | Facebook

MEMPHIS, TN (WMC-TV) - Memphis police have identified a teen found shot to death Wednesday evening as 15-year-old Alex Bolar.

The 911 call came in around 5:30 Wednesday evening. When investigators arrived a murder victim was lying in the middle of Georgian Hills Park. The body was that of a young man who had been shot to death.

"I don't know his exact age," said J.M. Willis of the Memphis Police Department. "We think he is a juvenile."

By nightfall homicide detectives were combing the crime scene, located just behind Georgian Hills Elementary and Middle Schools. It was a sobering sight for parents whose children attend both schools. 

"My son ran in and said somebody got shot at the school," parent Jermaine Lartdale said.

"I feel a little scared because we need more protection for the babies and children," parent Dana Matthews added.

Jermaine Latlock's son got home minutes before the shooting.

"I just picked him up from basketball practice, so it could have been one of his teammates or something," Latlock said.

School leaders who were asked to identify the body didn't recognize the victim, and hours after the shooting, no one had come to claim the young man's remains.  It was not until early Thursday afternoon that police identified the victim. 

A Memphis City Schools spokesperson said the shooting did not happen on the campus of Georgian Hills Elementary.

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