The 17-year-old charged in the fatal shooting of a 16-year-old girl last week, “pistol-whipped” her when she tried to break up an after-school fight and then put the gun to her head and opened fire, a Prince George’s County, Maryland, prosecutor told a judge Monday.
The teenage boy is charged as an adult in the death of 16-year-old Jayda Medrano-Moore, of Greenbelt, on Sept. 11 outside DuVal High School in Lanham.
During a bond hearing, a judge denied the teen bail and ordered him to be held at the Prince George’s County detention center.
Prosecutor William Porter argued that the boy, a student at Charles Herbert Flowers High School in Springdale, Maryland, decided to “get in his car with a group of his friends and go to another school with a firearm,” where they got into a fight with another group of students.
The teenage boy pulled a gun, and when confronted by Medrano-Moore, who tried to intervene because her little brother was involved in the altercation, “decided that he would pistol-whip that young lady, hit her with a gun, and then after he pistol-whipped, put that gun to her head,” Porter told the judge.
“He did not want that young girl to walk away from this incident,” Porter said, adding that the gun was placed to her head and she was shot “point blank.”
Defense attorney: Not a predator
Gabriel Christian, the boy’s lawyer, argued that the teenager was a “fine gentleman” from a “fine family,” and he did not have any criminal involvement before the shooting.
“We are maintaining his innocence,” Christian said in a news conference following the bond hearing. “We understand there was an altercation, the exact details and contours of that altercation, we do not know.”
According to charging documents, one witness told police that the boy had said that he and Medrano-Moore were “fighting over the gun” when it went off, telling the witness that he did not mean to shoot her.
In arguing for bail, the defense said the teen would benefit from home detention that would allow him to continue his education.
“He is not somebody who comes here in the posture of a predator,” Christian said, adding that the boy has ties to the community, where he was born, and he is not a flight risk.
The prosecutor argued that the boy is facing first-degree murder and other serious charges that carry lengthy sentences, and said that he was an “extreme danger to this community.” The judge agreed and denied him bail.
Outside the courthouse, Christian said his client’s family is torn up by what happened, and they have written a letter to Medrano-Moore’s family expressing their condolences.
“And it pains our hearts, certainly pains my heart, that our son is somehow implicated in this,” said Christian, reading part of the letter. “We maintain his innocence. But we would like the family to know that we would like to visit with them and extend to them every single bit of emotional support that humanitarian impulse suggests to us.”
Gun violence at heart of ‘very emotional case’
Prince George’s County State’s Attorney Aisha Braveboy said the case is “very emotional” for her and for the community.
She said the issue of gun violence especially among young people is heartbreaking.
“It was no accident that the gun was there,” Braveboy said. “That was an intentional act. Someone intentionally brought a gun to where they knew a dispute was going to happen,” which makes it hard to believe that the shooting was an accident.
Porter said the prosecution will be proceeding with first-degree murder charges, and they are looking for the other five people who were in the car with the boy.
Braveboy described Medrano-Moore as “a good student, a good person, a hero, a sister, a daughter, a future WNBA player, someone who cared about her community, her family in her school. She deserved to be here with us today.”
As for the 17-year-old boy, Braveboy said he is a “young person who has ruined the rest of his life, devastated his family. It’s unbearable in so many ways.”
One of Medrano-Moore’s uncles was present and spoke following the bond hearing.
He said that although the suspect was found, “it still doesn’t bring her back,” Algenis Liriano said.
He said the family is taking it day by day, but it has been really tough on them.
“A message out for the kids out there: please, please, please come on. If it’s a silly fight or whatever, just no need for guns, just … there’s no need for guns,” Liriano said.
Fight sparked by ‘petty beef’ before fatal shooting
Prince George’s County Police Chief Malik Aziz said in a news conference announcing the arrest that the fight between the students stemmed from what he called a “petty beef,” between a group of students from DuVal and another group who attended Charles Herbert Flowers High School.
Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks called Medrano-Moore at “a star” in her school and the community. “And on the day of this incident, she was a star yet again and gave her life there trying to defuse this particular incident.”
In the wake of the shooting, school officials installed new metal and weapons detectors at the entrance to the school.
WTOP’s Jack Moore contributed to this report.
Editor’s Note: The defense attorney’s name is Gabriel Christian. This story has been updated.
