I'm pretty sure that's exactly what happened here.
The odds of finding the real culprit after they've already eluded capture for 5+ days are extremely low.
Additionally, the evidence they supposedly found on him is extremely suspicious:
- An untraceable gun that he allegedly kept on him the entire time even though the shooter discarded everything else.
- A confession note that starts by talking about how much he respects the cops.
That doesn't just sound like the sort of thing that would be planted on him... that sounds like the sort of thing that would be planted on him by an idiot.
Unless they have actual body cam footage of them catching him and finding the evidence, I have to assume he was framed.
Get one of your professional contacts to honestly evaluate him.
You can’t objectively evaluate him since he’s your kid, and any advice he hears from you will be subject to scrutiny since you’re his parent.
If you’re right then your message will be more believable from a third party, and if you’re wrong then they will hopefully catch that.
Either way, you are right to try to set him up for success; that’s your job as his parent.