The Magruder High School student who pleaded guilty to shooting a 15-year-old in a school bathroom has been sentenced to serve 18 years of a 40 year sentence by a Montgomery County, Maryland, judge.
Steven Alston Jr., who turned 18 in August, was accused of constructing the “ghost gun” he used to critically injure 15-year-old DeAndre Thomas on Jan. 21. He was charged and tried as an adult.
State’s Attorney John McCarthy said that his sentence and charges were especially severe, because the incident stood out as the first time a shooting occurred in a Montgomery County public school.
“Quite candidly, one of the reasons that we fought this matter staying in the juvenile court is that the Patuxent program will give services,” McCarthy said. “In reality, there are no programs that exist in the state of Maryland (that) last longer than one year in the juvenile system, and to have this matter dealt with in the juvenile system would have been entirely inappropriate.”
Thomas, according to McCarthy, underwent a total of 10 surgeries after being shot. His mom was in attendance in the courtroom on his behalf.
Alston’s attorney, David Felsen, said that this case was not typical and, while Alston is responsible for his actions, and argued for a lower sentence.
“Clearly, Steven is responsible for his actions, but the fact that firearms are so readily available to people is the real issue in terms of wrongful conduct,” his attorney said. “This is really sort of low hanging fruit as to what happens. There probably should be other accountability here. Unfortunately, there isn’t.”
Montgomery County police arrested Alston on charges of second-degree murder, first-degree assault, use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, possession of a dangerous weapon on school property and possession of a firearm by a minor. He pleaded guilty to attempted murder charges on Nov. 7.
Sources told WTOP that Montgomery County prosecutors asked for Alston’s sentence to be between 15 and 25 years.
Montgomery County police said the incident happened at around 12:53 p.m. on Jan. 21.
At the time of the shooting, Montgomery County Police Chief Marcus Jones said the school went into lockdown while officers searched the building and determined no other students were in danger.
Alston was found in a classroom at around 3 p.m. with a disassembled gun nearby, according to charging documents. He allegedly said that he bought the 9 mm gun online and got a friend to help him build it.
Additionally, Alston told police that he brought the gun to school for protection, that he was worried he would get jumped at school and that he only pulled the gun out to scare his classmate and avoid fighting.
