Teens charged in shooting death of Las Vegas marijuana delivery man
FILE-Las Vegas police stand next to a service vehicle. (ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty Images)
Three teens and a man are facing murder charges after being accused in a deadly shooting of a marijuana delivery man in September in Las Vegas.
KLAS-TV in Las Vegas reports that Shelton Beasley, 15; Aren Hicks, 15; Jacorey Magdaleno, 17; and Jonathan Smith, 18, face murder charges in the death of Andre Bryant, 33.
In Nevada, if a 16-year-old or 17-year-old is charged with murder, the case is moved to the adult court system, known as certification.
According to KLAS-TV, judges can certify children over the age of 14 as adults for any felony offense, including murder, but the process is not automatic.
Several of the teens charged face up to 15 felonies. A judge certified Beasley and Hicks as adults, moving their cases to Las Vegas Justice Court and making their names public.
Beasley and Hicks remained in custody on Dec. 27, and a judge ordered them held without bail. Beasley was due to return to court on Jan. 2. And Hicks had a court date scheduled for Thursday.
In October, a grand jury indicted Magdaleno, Smith and other alleged gang members for an armed robbery at a 7-Eleven cash-drop and a deadly fight between members of a criminal group.
Some members of a rival gang felt slighted when other members stole more than $26,000 from a Las Vegas convenience store on Aug. 7.
Citing prosecutors, KLAS-TV reported that weeks later, gang members broke into the home of the girlfriend of another gang member, Enrique Nunez, 17, and killed him on Sept. 1.
Jomario Clark Jr., 16; Gregory Leonard, 30; Cameron Raye, 19; Magdaleno and Smith were accused of participating in the Sept. 1 murder.
Court documents obtained by KLAS-TV state that on Sept. 9, Beasley, Hicks, Magdaleno and Smith persuaded Bryant, a mobile marijuana dealer, to an area near Hicks’ home and killed him.
Authorities searched Bryant’s car and found his cell phone with text messages discussing meeting up at the scene of the shooting, police told KLAS-TV.
According to court documents, Hicks informed police that he and three other teens were at his home the night of the murder. They later called Bryant to buy marijuana.
KLAS-TV reports that Hicks told police his gun wasn’t working, and the three other suspects fired gunshots. Citing court documents, the news outlet noted that multiple gunshots were fired at Bryant, killing him, but they missed their intended target and shot some of the bullets into a home.
A trial for the indicted defendants is scheduled for July.