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A 17-year-old who faces weapons charges as part of an investigation into a mass shooting that happened at a block party in Baltimore will continue to be held without bond while he awaits trial, a judge ruled on Monday.
District Judge Kent J. Boles Jr. made that determination at a bail review hearing for the teen, who’s charged with five counts including possession of a firearm by a minor. He’s being held in the Youth Detention Center, according to jail records.
“The court does find it is appropriate to hold the defendant without bond,” said Boles, who stated that he determined by clear and convincing evidence that the teen posed a risk to the community.
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The Baltimore Banner is not identifying the teen because of his age.
Thirty people were shot — two of them fatally — after 12:30 a.m. on July 2 at Brooklyn Homes. Hundreds had gathered for an annual celebration called Brooklyn Day that featured pony rides, snowballs and dancing.
Assistant State’s Attorney Brandon Jones asked the judge to continue to hold the teen without bond, describing the case as “extremely serious.”
“The defendant represents an extreme threat to public safety,” Jones said.
But Michael Clinkscale, the teen’s attorney, asked the judge to place his client on home detention or release him on his own recognizance.
Outside the John R. Hargrove Sr. District Court Building, Clinkscale told reporters that he was disappointed with the ruling and planned to file a motion to transfer the case to juvenile court.
Law enforcement, he has said, alleges that the teen is a young man seen in a video that went viral on social media after the shooting pulling what appears to be a gun from a bag. Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott previously criticized “grown adults filming young people with guns who said nothing.”
Clinkscale said his client told him that he had a toy that fires water gel beads called an Orbeez gun. But Baltimore Police have not recovered a toy gun or a real gun, Clinkscale said.
Police, he said, found six .223-caliber cartridge casings in a pool of blood. Law enforcement alleges that they could have come from a weapon similar to the one they assert is in the video, Clinkscale said.
He described his client as a good kid who enjoys singing and rapping. The teen, he said, lived with his mother around Brooklyn Homes.
“He certainly has not committed any sort of violent crime,” said Clinkscale, who noted that his client was among the 28 people wounded in the shooting. “He has absolutely no prior criminal anything. He hasn’t even gotten a jaywalking ticket.”
When a reporter asked what evidence police have recovered in the case, Clinkscale replied, “The body. He’s in jail. That’s it.”
dylan.segelbaum@thebaltimorebanner.com
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Dylan Segelbaum is the courts reporter at The Baltimore Banner.
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