WASHINGTON — A 12-year-old child charged in a deadly carjacking case will remain at a juvenile detention facility until his next court hearing, after a judge declined to release him to family on Wednesday.
The child, who WUSA9 will not be naming, was arrested and charged Tuesday with armed carjacking in connection to an alleged carjacking that happened Saturday night that left a 13-year-old boy dead. He made his first court appearance on Wednesday.
On Oct. 28, 13-year-old Vernard Toney, Jr., of Southeast, D.C. was shot and killed while allegedly attempting to carjack a man in the 600 block of D Street in Northwest D.C. The man being carjacked was a U.S. Marshal serving as security for the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Investigators said the marshal was sitting in his car talking on the phone just before his shift started, when two kids approached him from behind and demanded he get out of the car. In court Wednesday, prosecutors said the two boys both put their hands on their waistbands, and said Toney jumped into the passenger seat while the 12-year-old pulled the driver's door open and said, "Get the [expletive] out, you know what this is."
Court testimony revealed that the 12-year-old boy spotted the U.S. Marshal's uniform and gun and ran to grab Toney out of the passenger seat. But prosecutors said within seconds, the U.S. Marshal had fired his gun shooting Toney in the chest. Both the boys ran, but Toney collapsed. He was taken to an area hospital, where he later died from his injuries.
The 12-year-old was caught on camera running away, and police released surveillance images, asking for the public's help to locate him. According to prosecutors, the mother of the 12-year-old boy saw the surveillance photos, recognized her son, and called police to turn him in.
In court, the mother listened in tears as her son's attorney described all she had done to avoid getting to that point with her son. He was described as having "anger issues" since he was 5-years-old, repeatedly broke curfew and would disappear for days at a time, and was believed to "know where to get a gun." His defense attorney's said this was the child's first offense, and that his mother had recently gotten him counseling services.
The U.S. Marshal legally owned the gun he fired, and police say he is cooperating with the investigation. He told police he felt like the boys had guns on them based on gestures, but no gun was found at the scene, including on Toney.
Since there was no weapon found or seen by the U.S. Marshal, the judge did not find probable cause for the charge of armed carjacking, but she said the boys’ actions Saturday night show they were "in concert to take this vehicle." He ordered the child be held without bond until his next court hearing on Monday.