Police search for man who fatally shot nephew over Thanksgiving dinner

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James Graham

UPDATE: Police have arrested the suspect. You can read more on the update here, or continue reading the original story below.
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A disagreement over Thanksgiving dinner turned deadly, leaving the suspect on the run and a teenager dead.

"My son called me, 'Nana is about to take me home because Uncle James pulled a gun on me,'" said Lena Pridgen.

That would be the last time Pridgen would speak to her 16-year-old son, Freland. She soon learned his uncle shot him in the back of the head at his home on Ward Street in Detroit after a fight about Thanksgiving dinner.

FOX 2 is told Freland's uncle was upset his grandma made her grandson a better plate of food.

"Over a Thanksgiving dinner, that's a coward move, James," said Pridgen.

Police are now looking for 48-year old James Graham who took off after police say he shot the teen. Relatives say Graham had been recently released from prison. He spent a decade behind bars for setting the mother of his children on fire.

"He's not even supposed to be around guns," said  Graystone Maddox, a relative. "And he took a sawed off shotgun - that's way premeditated  - loaded it up, went upstairs and shot my nephew in the back of the head."

Freland was rushed to Sinai Grace Hospital. Doctors were able to stabilize him for a few days, but on Sunday Pridgen says her only son passed away. Freland was a junior at Henry Ford School of Creative Studies.

"He was just a wonderful kid wonderful mannered you can ask him to do anything," Pridgen said. "He loved carpentry work. When he graduated from high school he wanted to be a carpenter."

Police are working to track James Graham down - but relatives believe he is hiding out with other family and friends. They just want him to do the right thing and turn himself in.

"I know you watching the news, I know you see my face James," Pridgen said. " What you need to do is turn yourself in."