Teen accused of murder in Boynton Sweet 16 shooting extradited to Palm Beach County from Texas

BOYNTON BEACH — An 18-year-old Lantana man is in local police custody following his extradition to Florida from Texas in the June fatal shooting of a 17-year-old in Boynton Beach.

Authorities booked Kaleb Turkustani into the Palm Beach County Jail on Thursday evening. He faces one count each of first-degree murder and discharging a firearm from a vehicle in the death of Louijice Camille at a Sweet 16 party on June 18.

The U.S. Marshals Service took Turkustani into custody Aug. 15 in Richmond, Texas, about 30 miles southwest of Houston. A Boynton Beach police arrest report did not indicate why Turkustani went to Texas or how he got there.

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On Friday, County Judge Ted Booras ordered that Turkustani be held without bail on the murder charge, and that he have no contact either with witnesses or Camille's family.

Eric Volz, the attorney who represented Turkustani at Friday's hearing, said the facts of the case will prove to be different from the information presented in Boynton Beach police's probable-cause arrest affidavit.

"I believe in my client's innocence," he said.

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City police say the fatal shooting took place as two groups of teens fought outside the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge on the 1200 block of Miner Road west of Interstate 95. Investigators said the lodge was hosting a Sweet 16 birthday party that night.

Surveillance camera video reportedly showed Camille and some of his friends exiting the lodge shortly before 11:30 p.m. when Turkustani punched one of Camille's friends, sparking a fight between two groups of teens. It carried over to the northwest corner of the parking lot, where a group of teens attacked and knocked down Camille, the arrest report said.

About two minutes after the first fight started, a white SUV was seen traveling east on Miner as it passed by Camille. The video showed a muzzle flash, indicating a gunshot had come from its front passenger side, police said. A witness described seeing Turkustani enter the SUV's front passenger seat moments before the shooting.

Multiple witnesses told investigators that "Kaleb from Lantana" was responsible for the act and noted that he immediately deleted all of his social-media accounts after the shooting.

Camille died at Bethesda Hospital East in Boynton Beach.

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A person who attended the party with Camille told investigators that Turkustani had called Camille and threatened to shoot him and his friends if they showed up at the gathering.

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Days after the shooting, a deputy from the sheriff's gang unit learned through a confidential informant that Camille and Turkustanti had been involved in an unresolved dispute, according to the arrest report.

Camille's death was one of three fatal shootings in a span of a week in Boynton Beach this past June. It led civic leaders to call a news conference to discuss the incidents and say gun violence had no place in their city.

Julius Whigham II is a criminal justice and public safety reporter for The Palm Beach Post. You can reach him at [email protected] and follow him on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, at @JuliusWhigham. Help support our work: Subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Teen extradited to South Florida from Texas in Sweet 16 murder case