Keniel Diaz-Romero arrested in Puerto Rico, charged in murder of Weymouth High student Nathan Paul
WEYMOUTH – A second person has been charged with murder in the February 2022 shooting death of 17-year-old Weymouth High School student Nathan Paul.
Quincy police and Massachusetts State Police took Keniel Diaz-Romero into custody in Puerto Rico last week, Norfolk District Attorney Michael Morrissey announced on Sunday.
Prosecutors said previously that 18-year-old Jaivon Harris and another suspect were charged with Paul's murder, but the second had fled. Four other teenagers were also previously charged, but not with shooting Paul.
Harris, who is accused of yelling "shoot him," previously pleaded not guilty.
Police said Paul met up with the teens on Taffrail Road in Quincy to sell them drugs and that they shot him when they tried to pay with counterfeit cash.
The Weymouth High School senior was an athlete and had plans to attend college in Massachusetts this fall. He had recently applied to Bridgewater State and UMass Amherst.
Diaz-Romero is charged with murder, larceny from a person, possession of a counterfeit bill, uttering a counterfeit bill, conspiracy to commit larceny, and unlawfully carrying a firearm.
"State Police assigned to the Norfolk District Attorney's office and Quincy Police have been working with the US Marshals Service and the Violent Fugitive Apprehension Section of the Massachusetts State Police to first locate, then return this defendant to Massachusetts since this indictment issued sixteen months ago," Morrissey said in a statement. "I thank Quincy Police Chief Mark Kennedy, the US Marshals Boston Office and VFAS for their coordination and cooperation here."