Background: News footage from the Newbury Park, Calif., neighborhood where a teenager was killed on Dec. 5, 2024 (KTLA). Inset: Zuberi Sharp (Ventura County District Attorney).
A California man who admitted to killing his teenage half-brother with a pickaxe could spend the rest of his life behind bars.
Zuberi Sharp, 26, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder on March 30 in connection with the 2024 death of his half-brother, 15-year-old Zayde Koehohou. According to a press release from the Ventura County District Attorney”s Office, Sharp was sentenced to 15 years to life on Tuesday. The DA said Sharp admitted to the murder and the special allegations “that he personally inflicted great bodily injury, along with aggravating factors that he used a weapon in the commission of the crime and that the victim was particularly vulnerable.”
As Law&Crime previously reported, Sharp’s uncle told police he heard a “thud” as he walked to a shed at the family’s home in Newbury Park, California, on Dec. 5, 2024. The uncle knew Sharp and Zayde were both in the shed, and he was walking out to “check on the boys.”
When the uncle looked inside the shed, he saw “Sharp standing over Zayde holding a pickaxe.” The boys’ mother called 911, and Sharp fled the scene. He was later found naked in a high school football field, where he was arrested. He had the murder weapon with him.
Deputies from the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office arrived at the home to find Zayde’s mother cradling her son in her lap. Zayde, who had cerebral palsy, suffered severe wounds to his head. He died before he reached the hospital.
In an interview with local news, the boys’ mother explained that Sharp suffered from mental issues and “didn’t know what he was doing.” She insisted that Sharp “loves his brothers, my boys loved each other.”
