Jones, 17, previously charged with lesser offences, had been involved in two earlier shootings, Oklahoma court hears

This article is more than 6 years old

This article is more than 6 years old

One of the US teenagers accused of the drive-by murder of Australian baseball player Chris Lane may have been involved in two earlier shootings.

Michael Jones, 17, appeared in the Stephens County courthouse in Duncan, Oklahoma, on Wednesday dressed in an orange jumpsuit, his arms and legs shackled.

In a surprise announcement, district attorney Jason Hicks said he was upgrading the charge against Jones to first-degree murder.

"We now have information this defendant may have been involved in shootings earlier in the day or the night before," Hicks told the packed courtroom.

Judge Jerry Herberger has placed a gag order on the prosecutors, lawyers and authorities involved in the case, preventing them talking to the media.

Outside court, Hicks declined to give more information about the previous shootings, although police had previously said a donkey in a paddock in Duncan had been shot before Lane's murder.

Asked if the earlier shooting victims had two legs or four, Hicks replied: "No comment."

In the days after Lane's murder, Jones's two 16-year-old co-accused, James Edwards and Chancey Luna, were charged with first-degree murder, but Jones was charged with the lesser crimes of accessory to murder and use of a vehicle in the discharge of a weapon.

Jones, the alleged driver of a Ford Focus used in the 16 August shooting, was the only one of the trio who spoke to police in the hours after the murder.

He claimed Lane was randomly targeted and shot in the back with a .22 calibre revolver because the three boys were "bored" and "thought it would be fun to do", police said.

Melbourne-born Lane, a member of an Oklahoma college baseball team, was jogging along a residential street when he suffered a fatal gunshot in the back.

Jones was denied bail.

Jones, Edwards and Luna will have preliminary hearings later this month.