A 16-year-old St. Charles County boy has been charged as an adult for the shooting death of a 13-year-old boy, who died in May.
O’Fallon police say Dylan Woolbright shot Owen Fielder in the head with a semi-automatic handgun in the 400 block of Mar-Ton Estates Drive.
Owen died from his injuries three days after he was shot on May 9. His mother, Stephanie Fielder, told 5 On Your Side's Justina Coronel her son is survived by eight sisters and a nephew "he adored." She added that his organs saved lives.
"Owen was able to help five people," she wrote, including that his heart helped a 10-year-old boy, his lungs helped a 16-year-old girl, his liver helped a 1-year-old girl, his kidney helped a 42-year-old man and pancreas helped a 55-year-old man. "I know he is proud of that."
St. Charles County Juvenile Courts certified his killer as an adult on Aug. 18. Once certified, local prosecutors must decide whether to charge a juvenile with a crime.
St. Charles County Prosecutor Tim Lohmar charged Woolbright Friday with involuntary manslaughter and armed criminal action.
“We recognize the gravity and ramifications of charging a juvenile as an adult, and we rarely do,” Lohmar wrote as part of a statement. “However, there are certain circumstances where dangerous offenders are better handled in the courts of general jurisdiction, and this is one.”
As part of her reasoning to certify Woolbright as an adult, Associate Circuit Judge Brittney Smith wrote that he had a repetitive pattern of offenses, which “indicates that the juvenile is beyond rehabilitation under the juvenile code.”
She listed the following reasons in court documents as her explanation for certifying him as an adult:
Woolbright has received court services related to drug use
Woolbright said he started selling drugs at 14
Woolbright admitted procuring the gun used in the killing to help him sell drugs
Woolbright has had previous contacts with the juvenile system, from which he “failed to derive benefit,” including completion of the STEP program in November 2019 following a referral for marijuana possession; testing positive for marijuana while under supervision for truancy; and referrals for minor in possession of alcohol and curfew violations in April
She found Woolbright to be “an emotionally sophisticated and physically mature 16-year-old,” because he voluntarily moved out of his parent’s home to live without their rules; reported there have been other times he’s moved out on his own; decided to stop going to high school as a freshman; and started selling drugs for profit and his own use to the tune of a half-pound of marijuana per week for up to $2,000, giving him a profit of $800 that he invested in more product to sell
Even if committed to the Division of Youth Services, he could only be monitored by the juvenile court until his 18th birthday, unless both he and his parents agree to an extension to the age of 21
Woolbright argued at his trial he has both chemical and psychological issues that contributed to the lifestyle choices, and the juvenile court could not monitor him long enough to ensure all of those issues could be addressed enough to protect the community.
On the day Owen was shot, Woolbright told police he was sitting on a bed playing with a gun he found in the woods about six or seven months prior. He told police he was taking the magazine in and out of the gun and the gun started to fall out of his hands, and when he reached to try and catch it, it went off and he noticed Owen was wounded, according to court documents.
Woolbright told police he lied to responding officers because he was scared and told them the gun fell off the bed and went off, according to the documents.
O’Fallon police discovered a Snapchat post that Woolbright made with the caption, “I love you all, bye for life.”
Woolbright told police he made the post when first responders were rendering aid to Owen because he believed he was going to get a “gun charge,” and be locked up for life, according to the documents.
He let officers search his cellphone, and they found numerous pictures of Woolbright holding a gun, drugs and large amounts of cash, according to the documents.
Another juvenile who was there at the time of the shooting told police she was in the same bedroom where Owen was shot, and Owen and Woolbright were talking about guns when Woolbright asked Owen if he wanted to see his gun. Woolbright got his gun from between the wall and mattress and handed it to Owen before Owen gave it back to Woolbright, according to the documents.
Woolbright then moved the slide and pulled the trigger. The witness told police she saw Woolbright play with the gun by removing the magazine and ammunition to make it safe and then pulling the trigger to hear it click.
