2 men sentenced for death of teen killed in 2024 Phoenix ambush

PHOENIX – Two men involved in the fatal 2024 ambush shooting of a teenager in Phoenix were sentenced to prison last week, authorities said.

Agel Ring, 19, and Nathan James, 21, each pleaded guilty in December to second-degree murder for the death of a 17-year-old boy.

“We will never get to see him graduate, start a career or have a family of his own. Those milestones were stolen, and that loss is something our family will carry for the rest of our lives,” a member of the victim’s family said during the trial, according to a Maricopa County Attorney’s Office press release.

Prosecutors said that Ring and James lured the teen, whose name was not released, to the area of Seventh Avenue and Buckeye Road before killing him.

The men told the victim they wanted to buy marijuana from him, but Ring shot him twice in the chest while he retrieved the drugs from his car’s center console, prosecutors said.

Ring and James then made off with the marijuana, the victim’s phone and a gun.

Police captured Ring near the crime scene, but James fled to Kansas City, Missouri. James was arrested several months later and extradited to Arizona to be prosecuted.

How long were men who killed teen sentenced to prison for?

Ring, who was prohibited from possessing a firearm at the time of the shooting, was sentenced to 22 years in prison. James was given a 13-year sentence.

County Attorney Rachel Mitchell thanked the Phoenix Police Department and prosecutor Sarah Lundstedt for their work on the case.

“We see cases like this far too often. Teenagers planning armed robberies over marijuana or vape products and senselessly murdering someone in the process,” Mitchell said in the release.

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