A 19-year-old Edgewood man pleaded guilty late last week to shooting and killing 16-year-old Shakir Wingate who prosecutors say had an ongoing "beef" with his killer's brother.
Michael Steven Jones was indicted in Harford County last October on charges of first- and second-degree murder, manslaughter, two counts of first-degree assault, two counts of using a handgun in a felony or violent crime, possessing a regulated firearm or ammunition while under age 21, illegally wearing, carrying or transporting a handgun on his person and reckless endangerment.
In Harford County Circuit Court Aug. 18, Jones pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and a single count of using a handgun in a felony or violent crime. The remaining charges were dismissed by the state.
Prosecutors believe the shooting was related to an ongoing dispute.
"The victim had a running beef with the defendant's brother, Reginald Peay," Assistant State's Attorney Salvatore Fili said Tuesday.
On an earlier date, at the Joppatowne Carnival, Shakir taunted Reginald's girlfriend in front of Reginald, Fili said. He explained a witness would have testified Shakir called Reginald, who was in 10th grade in high school at the time, derogatory names and suggested the young man's girlfriend should be with Shakir instead.
Shakir was a Joppatowne High School senior at the time of his death. The school awarded him a degree posthumously at its June commencement.
On another occasion, Shakir allegedly pointed a gun in Reginald's face, pulled the trigger, but no shot fired, Fili said.
Fili said a witness was prepared to testify to the incident and to the fact that Shakir told her had the gun not jammed he would have shot Reginald in the face.
Fili said at one point Reginald may have made a comment along the lines of, "wait until I get my brother."
The ongoing dispute may have lead to the deadly circumstances of Oct. 2, 2010, when Jones shot Shakir several times in the upper torso while the 16-year-old was inside a 1997 Jeep Cherokee.
The Jeep was parked in front of Shakir's home in the 1200 block of Clover Valley Way in Edgewood.
"The circumstance under which that happened are a little open to question," Fili said.
A state's witness claimed she was in the car with Shakir at the time of the shooting and that Jones walked up to the car and shot Shakir several times while he was inside the vehicle.
A witness Jones' lawyer, Craig Kadish, planned to call would have testified to the contrary that two black men jumped out of the Jeep, one of them armed, and when Jones saw them that's when he opened fire, according to Fili.
Fili said the state gave some credence to the story of the second witness, who appeared just weeks before trial. Fili said a neighbor in the area had originally told police he heard shots and when he went out on his deck, saw a black man running through his yard who shouted, "call 9-1-1 they're shooting at me."
"This is somebody who has absolutely no connection to anybody in the case," Fili said of the neighbor.
The man the neighbor described bore a similar description to the man the defense's witness referred to.
"From the facts in this case [there was] no indication that this was a gang sponsored or related activity," Fili said.
At the time of the murder, neither Jones nor Shakir were known to the sheriff's office to be gang members.
Jones was sentenced by Circuit Court Judge Stephen Waldron to 30 years for second-degree murder and 10 years for the handgun violation.
He also pleaded guilty to an unrelated robbery and was sentenced to serve 18 months along with the 40 years in the murder case, an outcome the victim of the robbery was satisfied with, according to Harford County State's Attorney Joe Cassilly.
Shortly after he arrived at the Harford County Detention Center after his arrest on the Wingate murder charge last year, Jones suffered a beating that was bad enough to require his transport to a local hospital then regional trauma center for treatment of injuries.
The attack did not appear related to the homicide but Jones and his five accused attackers did know each other, a Harford County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman said at the time.
Jamal Corey Bell, 19, and Jeremiah Quinn McCall, 21, pleaded guilty to second-degree assault and were sentenced to serve one year and one day in connection with the beating. Edward Rudolf Brown, 32, pleaded guilty to second-degree conspiracy assault and was sentenced to serve six months. The state dismissed cases against Akeel Rice and Taivon Richardson.