Keyondre Russell, an 18-year-old man, was arrested
for the murder of a 15-year-old boy on the New York subway last month. Now, Russell
told the New York Post that he hasn’t committed the murder and does not belong
in prison. He was arrested on October 15 for murder and criminal possession of
a weapon.

On October 14, a clash broke out between teens on
the A train in Queens ending in a fatal shooting that killed 15-year-old Jayjon
Burnett.

Keyondre Russell was before a grand jury for the
murder. However, the jury failed to indict him. Instead, he was indicted for
possession of weapons, tampering with evidence and menacing.

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Russell has maintained that he is not a gang member.
“I didn’t have no gun on me and I’m not the murderer,” he told the Post. He further
said he did not recognise Burnett or anyone else on the train during the
altercation and that he was with his girlfriend from high school at the time on
the subway.

Keyondre Russell said Jayjon Burnett initiated an
argument with him. “He came to me and my girl…And he was talking to me thinking
I was somebody and I was like ‘I don’t know what you talking about,’”

The incident

Video footage accessed by New York Post shows a boy
telling a girl wearing a two-piece suit, “I know who used to be your boyfriend.
All that. All that. My girlfriend right here.” The footage then shows the two
teens tussling. A gunshot is heard and the video jumbles.

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The bullet is said to have passed through Russell’s
right thigh before striking Burnett. “I didn’t feel [the gunshot] at the
moment,” Russell claimed adding that he and his girlfriend fled the Far Rockaway
station and took a “far walk”.

Russell says he noticed his gunshot would only when
he reached his girlfriend’s home. Russell’s mother Keturah Miller said her
family has been receiving threats from people linked to Burnett since the
murder.

“When everybody started saying all of this malicious
stuff, threatening my family and everything, saying my son is a killer, a monster,
a murderer – I know in my heart, that he’s not that, and I know he did not do
that,” Miller told the Post.