A Baltimore City District Court judge ordered the 17-year-old boy charged with murder in Friday’s fatal shooting at Mergenthaler Vocational-Technical High School be held without bail, calling him a danger to the community.
Judge Theresa Morse said Tuesday afternoon the crime the teen is accused of was “particularly egregious” because it happened on school grounds and that prosecutors had shown “clear and convincing evidence” that releasing the teen from jail would pose a threat.
Because he is charged with first-degree murder, the teenager will be tried as an adult, pending a hearing on whether his case should be waived down to juvenile court. The Baltimore Sun is not naming the teen because he is a minor and his case could be returned to juvenile court.
On Friday, 17-year-old Jeremiah Brogden, a Mervo student and football player, died after being shot in a parking lot behind the school after class let out, authorities said.
Baltimore school police arrested the suspect shortly after the shooting, recovering a handgun, authorities said. The shooting was captured on video and there were witnesses who later identified the teen as the shooter, a prosecutor with the Baltimore State’s Attorney’s Office said in court.
No further details about the shooting or what prompted it were offered in court.
During his brief hearing, the teen, wearing a yellow jumpsuit and appearing on screen from central booking, said little.
The Cohen Harris law firm represents the teen, and attorney Nick Meriwether appeared in court on his behalf.
The teen is a 10th grader at Achievement Academy at Harbor City High School in Northeast Baltimore, Meriwether told the court. The alternative public school in the Hamilton Hills neighborhood that serves about 400 students in grades 9 through 12. Meriwether said the suspect’s family asked for privacy at this time.
He declined to comment after the hearing.
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In May, the teen was convicted of robbery, assault and possession of a handgun in juvenile court, Morse said.
Meriwether said the teen was awaiting commitment for those charges. Because he was charged as a juvenile, his court records from those charges are not public.
However, Meriwether said, the teen’s parents thought he was “doing good” after his May run-in with the law.
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Brogden was a junior who played running back for Mervo’s football team. Before Mervo, he attended the Baltimore Collegiate School for Boys, a charter school for boys in the fourth through eighth grades.
On Friday, just after the shooting, Baltimore Police Commissioner Michael Harrison said the suspect had approached Brogden in a parking lot behind the school and they got into a heated encounter before the suspect fired multiple rounds.
“This is an extremely tragic situation, beyond tragic, happening on the grounds of a school in the beginning of the school year,” Harrison said at the time.
Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott, a Mervo graduate, had planned to attend Friday night’s football game between his alma mater and Edmondson-Westside, but the game was canceled after the shooting.