Kid was 4'8" a year and a half ago according to that missing person report, doubt he was much taller so he probably still looked very much like a kid.
No one should be killed for stealing a car, but you can't really know what someone's willingness is to steal that car. In interactions involving theft and someone has a gun, it's rarely going to end well.
His parent's failed him and honestly should see some of the consequences for all this. They won't, there will be a go fund me, there will be sweatshirts with his picture airbrushed on it, they'll talk about how he liked to play Pokémon and basketball, parents and friends will say this was senseless and say he's gone too young. Some of his friends who I'm undoubtedly sure he did this with will chill for awhile, some might stop for good. But then just 1 neighborhood over, kids who go to the same school and have a similar upbringing will continue to do the same shyt. Laugh about it, joke about it, throw it up on IG or TikTok. Eventually everyone will forget this even happened. And in a few months someone else will be shot or killed under similar circumstances, because a lot of parents are not fit to be parents. And the cycle will repeat itself.
I'm personally tired of bad parents; horrible parents let off the hook for kids/environments that they created and/or did nothing to mitigate. If these kids parents start seeing repercussions, it WILL change. Poverty, racism, bad policing, easy access to guns are major issues, I'm not letting those things off the hook. But those problems aren't going to change overnight or in a year. If you're going to be a parent, it's an everyday job that can start today.