Latest news with #WarrentGrant
CBS News
28-05-2025
- General
- CBS News
Teen accused in Maryland high school shooting testifies in his own defense before closing arguments
A teen accused of shooting and killing a classmate inside a Maryland high school testified during his trial Wednesday. Jaylen Prince, 16, is being charged as an adult after allegedly murdering 15-year-old Warrent Grant on Sept. 6, 2024, inside a Joppatowne High School bathroom. Prince took the stand Wednesday during the sixth day of his trial and outlined his version of the events from the day of the shooting. Prince claims gun went off accidentally Prince was the last witness in the case. He took the stand dressed in a black suit and glasses and swore under oath that he did not mean to kill Grant. Earlier in the trial, one of Prince's classmates testified that the shooting stemmed from an argument after Prince spoke to Grant's girlfriend. According to the student, Prince was told to stay away from the girl, which seemed to agitate him. According to Prince's testimony, Grant was the aggressor in the situation. Prince said Grant came up behind him in the bathroom and tried to instigate a fight over his girlfriend. On Wednesday, Prince testified that he told Grant, "My hand is broke. I ain't fighting nobody," referring to an injury that required emergency surgery months before the shooting. He then told Grant, "If you touch me, I will kill you," before he pulled a gun from his backpack to scare his classmates off. Prince told the jury that Grant shook him, and the gun fired. "I did not fire the gun. It accidentally went off," Prince said during his testimony. Prince said he purchased the gun to protect himself as he "was afraid of a lot of places," after losing at least five friends to gun violence. Prosecution questions firearm purchase, search history During cross-examination, State's Attorney Alison Healey, with the defense team, brought up several photos of Prince with a gun. The photos showed Prince with the gun in a car, at work and at his friends' homes. Healy pointed out that they were not scary or threatening places. She also questioned the search history found on Prince's phone about types of guns and bullets. Prince told the jury he searched those topics out of curiosity. He also said he tossed the gun outside of the school after the shooting because he panicked. The gun that was used in the deadly shooting was not recovered. Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler said officials were hindered by a state law that limits interrogations involving minors. A county detective testified that he heard Prince say "Toss that f******* gun in the water" during a phone call that was captured on a Ring doorbell. Photos of gun match bullets from crime scene A digital forensics expert testified that Prince's cellphone proved that he bought the gun. An analysis of his phone revealed texts in which he and a contact named "Baby Face" arranged the gun purchase on August 12, 2024. Prince then sent the contact $700 through CashApp. Prince's phone also revealed photos of the firearm, a P80 Hornady 9mm gun that matched the type of bullets found after the shooting. The bullets also matched the ones recovered during Grant's autopsy. According to the defense, it does not mean that the bullets came from the pack found in Prince's home. Prince's mother says he had limited range of motion due to injury Prince's mother, Rykiech Prince, took the stand on Tuesday, arguing that her son had a limited range of motion in his right index finger due to the injury that required surgery. She told the jury that she often searched her kids' bedrooms and knew their whereabouts. During a heated exchange with Healy, Rykiech Prince was asked how she missed the ammunition under her son's mattress and why he missed so many days of school. Rykiech Prince said the missed days were due to her son's hand injury and several suspensions. She also recalled how Prince went to school on the day of the shooting to fix his computer so he could attend an online school, something Healy said the school was not made aware of. Closing statements in the Joppatowne High murder trial are expected to begin Thursday, May 29, before jury deliberations
CBS News
23-05-2025
- CBS News
Witnesses recall seeing alleged suspect in Maryland neighborhood after Joppatowne High School shooting
Testimony during the trial for a teen accused of carrying out a deadly shooting at a Maryland high school suggests he may have passed the murder weapon off to another classmate. Jaylen Prince, 16, is being charged as an adult for shooting and killing Warrent Grant, 15, at Joppatowne High School in September 2024. During the fourth day of his trial, Friday, the jury heard from witnesses who said Prince ran and hid in a nearby apartment complex after the deadly shooting unfolded in a school bathroom. 2024 Joppatowne High School shooting According to classmates who testified in Prince's trial, the shooting at Joppatowne High was prompted by an argument over a girl. A boy who said he was close friends with Prince testified that the suspected shooter was seen flirting with Grant's girlfriend. He recalled how he relayed a message from Grant to Prince telling him to stay away from the girl. Prince seemed agitated after the interaction, the friend told jurors. Later on that day, Prince and Grant got involved in a fight in the men's bathroom, during which Prince threatened to kill Grant before pulling a gun from his backpack and firing, witnesses said. The weapon used in the shooting has not been found. Witnesses recall seeing Prince after Joppatowne High shooting On Friday, Juan Cortez took the stand and recalled a conversation he overheard from a person in the hallway of his apartment on Riley Court, just across the street from Joppatown High. Cortez said he heard the phrases, "Hurt him," "Shot him," and "I messed up my life." "I was alarmed," Cortez told the jury. "That's not something I typically hear passing my front door." He said he called 911 immediately. Sgt. Gregory Dietz with the Harford County Sheriff's Office responded to that call. His body camera footage was played in court, showing the day that deputies spotted Prince hiding under a stairwell. Dietz recalled that Prince only had a phone and a backpack, but a gun was not found. The jury also heard from John McNamara, who lives on Joppa Farm Road, which backs up to the school. His Ring doorbell camera captured Prince walking through his backyard as he was on the phone. Analyzing Ring doorbell video Harford County Sheriff's Detective Patrick Ross testified about analyzing the Ring video captured by McNamara. Ross said he slowed the video, sped it up and adjusted the pitch. He believes Prince said to the person on the other end of the phone, "Toss that f******* gun in the water, real s***." The prosecution also went through other pieces of video evidence with Det. Ross, including a screenshot of what Ross called direct eye contact between Prince and Grant as Grant went to the bathroom minutes before the shooting. The defense argued that when the video is watched in real time, the two teens couldn't have seen each other for more than a split second before Prince went into the bathroom. Video surveillance also showed Prince interacting with another student outside of the school's entrance after the shooting. The student appeared to reach into Prince's backpack. It is unclear if he took anything from the bag. The state's attorney's office said that the student has not been charged with any crimes.
CBS News
21-05-2025
- CBS News
Opening statement underway in trial for teen accused in deadly Harford County high school shooting
Opening statements began Wednesday in the trial for a teen accused of a deadly Harford County high school shooting. Jaylen Prince, 16, is being charged as an adult for shooting and killing a 15-year-old classmate inside a bathroom at Joppatowne High School in September 2024. Prince is facing several charges, including murder and assault. Jury seated in Joppatowne High School shooting trial A jury of eight women and four men was seated on Wednesday morning, after about 103 people were questioned. On Tuesday, the potential jurors were asked if they had attended or had family who attended Joppatowne High School and if they were concerned about viewing graphic images. About 72% of those potential jurors said they had knowledge of the case. Nearly 30% of them said they had strong feelings about cases involving minors. After the initial 12 jurors were seated, an additional four were picked as alternates. What happened during the Joppatowne High School shooting The shooting at Joppatowne High School on Sept. 6, 2024, left 15-year-old Warrent Grant dead. According to witnesses, Grant and Prince were arguing inside a men's bathroom when Prince took a gun from his backpack and shot Grant, killing him. During a bail hearing, prosecutors argued that Prince was a danger to the community, especially because the gun used in the shooting was not initially found. He was denied bail. During the investigation, Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler expressed frustration with state laws, saying they limited investigators' ability to find the firearm. "There are families of every other student in that school, and the parents of the shooter, who have a right to know why we are all standing here today, and why there's a person who has been shot in one of our schools and we are not allowed to ask the person who committed that act because of this crazy legislation," he said in reference to Maryland's Child Interrogation Protection Act. School shooting sparks calls for security, leadership changes The fatal shooting at Joppatowne High School prompted fierce calls for increased security in schools. Some members of the community and the board of education called for Harford County Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Sean Bulson to resign. "Dr. Bulson knew the many security shortfalls at Joppatowne High School and did nothing until a student was murdered within our walls," Board Vice President Melissa Hahn said. Since the deadly shooting, several changes have been made to school security at the local and national levels. Harford County schools ramped up security measures with increased funding, advanced weapon detection systems and bag size restrictions. The school shooting in Maryland and others across the nation at the time prompted the Biden administration to implement several gun violence reduction strategies and improve school shooter drills.
