WASHINGTON – A Maryland teenager has pleaded guilty to stabbing another teen in the heart during a fight at the Woodley Park Metro station.
Chavez Myers, 18, entered the guilty plea in D.C. Superior Court Wednesday, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office. He is charged with first-degree murder while armed in the killing of Olijawon Griffin, 18, last November.
A judge will decide whether to accept Myers’ plea and if so, set his sentence at a hearing Dec. 13. Myers faces 30 years in prison.
Five other young men who were charged as adults in the robberies and the attack that led to Griffin’s death have also pleaded guilty to various charges.
Myers was among a group of nine people who planned to steal iPhones and other items from people in the city’s busy Adams Morgan neighborhood. They took the Metro to the Woodley Park station and walked to nearby Adams Morgan where they robbed Griffin near a gas station on Adams Mill Road NW just after midnight Nov. 17.
They took Griffin’s Helly Hansen coat, hat and an iPhone. The group of nine then walked back to the Metro station, where they again encountered Griffin and two people who were with Griffin.
Police have said that Griffin confronted the group he believed had robbed him, including one who was wearing his jacket. Myers is accused of sneaking up behind Griffin during a fight at the station and stabbing him in the heart once. Griffin died soon after. Another teen was injured during the altercation.
U.S. Attorney Ronald Machen called the attack a “brutal act of violence.”
“We hope this prosecution sends an unambiguous message to young people tempted to join their friends to carry out robberies and other acts of violence in our city: Think before you act because you will be prosecuted as an adult,” Machen said in a statement.
Myers was 17 at the time of the fatal stabbing.
The U.S. Attorney’s office says five other teens who have pleaded guilty to adult felony charges related to the fight and robbery are also set to be sentenced Dec. 13:
- Muquan Cawthorne, 16, of Mount Ranier, Md., pled guilty to voluntary manslaughter while armed, armed robbery, and a firearms offense.
Gary Maye, 17, of Hyattsville, Md., pled guilty to voluntary manslaughter while armed, armed robbery, and robbery. - Immanuel Swann, 18, of Brentwood, Md., pled guilty to voluntary manslaughter while armed and two counts of armed robbery.
- Gary Whittaker, 20, of Hyattsville, Md., pled guilty to voluntary manslaughter while armed, assault with a dangerous weapon, conspiracy and a firearms offense.
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- 5 teens charged as adults in Metro station stabbing
- 9 juveniles charged, 1 dead in Woodley Park stabbing
- Two men stabbed at Woodley Park Metro Station
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