The 16-year-old boy accused of shooting a fellow student inside Rockville, Maryland’s Wootton High School on Monday texted a friend and asked him to bring a backpack to the school that prosecutors believe was carrying the gun, prosecutors said during a bond hearing Wednesday.
The teenager, who’s charged with attempted second-degree murder, will remain in jail after a judge ordered him held without bond at the conclusion of that hearing.
The 16-year-old is being charged as an adult with an additional two counts of first-degree assault, two counts of second-degree assault and possession of a dangerous weapon on school property.
At a Tuesday news conference, Rockville Police Chief Jason West said the teen pointed a gun at a 15-year-old girl earlier Monday before shooting a 16-year-old schoolmate. The teen charged in the shooting then left the school and hid the gun in his backyard, according to prosecutors.
West said the suspect and victim knew each other, but police are still investigating the motive behind the shooting.
West said the student who was shot is in stable condition.
鈥淚n this case, the second victim did not suffer injury,鈥� West said. 鈥淗owever, through investigation, we learned that the suspect in the case pointed a firearm at that person earlier in the day, prior to this shooting occurring.鈥�
Officers with the Montgomery County Police Department were dispatched to the high school around 2:15 p.m. Monday following a report of shots fired inside the school.
A student was聽found shot in a school hallway and taken to a hospital.
Police said officers recovered the weapon: a Polymer80 9 mm handgun, that they believe was used in the shooting. West said the weapon is commonly referred to as a 鈥済host gun,鈥� and officers found it late Monday night, away from the school.
鈥淲e know that those types of firearms are very difficult to trace, if we can do that at all,鈥� West said.
鈥淧art of our investigation will include, 鈥榃here did that firearm come from? How did that student come into possession of that firearm, and how did it get into the school?’鈥�
In court Wednesday, defense attorneys told the judge the situation was contained between two people and argued the teenager was not the initial aggressor.
One of the teenager’s defense attorneys said, 鈥淛ustice will be served, and answers will be had鈥� as they left the courthouse with the teenager’s mother.
The defense team also informed the court of plans to formally call for the case to be moved to juvenile court.
When asked about the claim that the accused shooter wasn鈥檛 the initial aggressor, McCarthy, the state’s attorney, said his team is looking into that.
鈥淭hat’s part of the ongoing investigation for the police as well as my office, and that will be pursued and that will be looked at,鈥� McCarthy said.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Feb. 20.
海角精品黑料’s Mike Murillo, Luke Lukert, Jos茅 Uma帽a and Abigail Constantino contributed to this report.
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