The parents of one of the 15-year-olds who are accused of shooting at each other outside Carver Vocational-Technical High School in Baltimore and wounding another student on Friday drove together to the scene, took part in an assault and gave him a ride back to a home after he was wounded, Baltimore Police allege.
William Dredden III, 40, of Berea, and Tiffany Harrison, 37, of Coppin Heights, are each charged with first- and second-degree assault, conspiracy to commit first- and second-degree assault, use of a firearm during the commission of a crime of violence and related offenses.
“This is a despicable example of parents facilitating the escalation of everyday conflict between young people into reckless gun violence endangering innocent lives,” Mayor Brandon Scott said in a statement. “My hope is that those responsible for this incident, including the parents, will be brought to justice.”
Baltimore Police acting Deputy Commissioner Kevin Jones said the shooting was reported before 8 a.m. at Carver Vocational-Technical High School, which is on Presstman Street near North Bentalou Street in Coppin Heights.
Detectives reported that they obtained surveillance video, which shows them all leaving a house on Braddish Avenue below West North Avenue in a 2020 Ford Edge. Dredden, Harrison and the 15-year-old later approached a group of young people near the school, police allege, and the teen then carried out a pistol-whipping.
Next, he walked up to a different 15-year-old who was standing on the sidewalk near the school, exchanged words with him, pulled out the gun and started shooting, police assert. That teen withdrew his own gun and returned fire, police claim.
Both 15-year-old students were shot. A 16-year-old student who was not involved in the fight was also wounded, police reported.
Next, Dredden, Harrison and their son returned to the house, police reported. Law enforcement found a hoodie with blood on it in the SUV, which police claim matched what one of the shooters had been wearing.
Dredden, police allege, provided investigators with a different account of events.
Police reported that both 15-year-olds will be charged with attempted murder and handgun violations after they’re released from the Maryland Shock Trauma Center.
In an email, Michael Schwartzberg, a spokesperson for the University of Maryland Medical System, said he was not able to confirm whether any of the teens were patients nor provide information about their conditions because they are minors.
Baltimore City Public Schools wrote in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, that crisis support staff members were on site to provide counseling and assistance at the school, which is career- and technical-focused and has about 1,000 students. Students returned to class on Monday on a staggered schedule.
Describing him as a danger to the community, District Judge Katie M. O’Hara ordered Dredden to be held without bond at the end of a bail review hearing.
Dredden has five prior convictions, including one for distribution of controlled substances in U.S. District Court in Baltimore in 2020 for which he was sentenced to four years in prison. He was released on June 15, 2022, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
Assistant State’s Attorney Saleem Safdar asked for Dredden to be held without bond.
Dredden’s attorney, Assistant Public Defender Cosmo Pappas, requested that his client be released on home detention.
“Obviously, there’s a lot to be litigated in this case,” said Pappas, who noted the high-profile nature of the allegations. “I think the evidence of a conspiracy is scant.”
At a separate bail review hearing, Harrison was also ordered to be held without bond, said Emily Witty, a spokesperson for the Baltimore State’s Attorney’s Office, in a text message.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of young people being shot has spiked in Baltimore.
Five students were shot, one of them fatally, on Jan. 4 outside the Popeyes in the Edmondson Village Shopping Center across from Edmondson-Westside High School. Deanta Dorsey was loyal and kind, and loved ones affectionally called him “Dink.” He was 16.
Meanwhile, Izaiah Carter, a student at Patterson High School and a member of the Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps, was shot and killed nearby during school hours on March 6 at Joseph E. Lee Park. He was also 16.
Dredden and Harrison are both scheduled to appear on Nov. 29 for preliminary hearings, according to online court records.
