16-year-old accused of shooting fleeing teen in head at Wheaton Metro

Emmanuel L. Simmonds was apprehended Wednesday and charged as an adult with second-degree murder and other counts in the Might 18 death of Tenneson Vaughn Leslie Jr.

Leslie was shot in the head as he attempted to escape, authorities stated Thursday. The suspect, Simmonds, was assisted by a 14-year-old relative, who was likewise at the station, according to cops. The 14-year-old was charged as a device in the juvenile court system, authorities stated.

In court Thursday, Simmonds’s lawyer, Marisa Bakker, stated the cops filings up until now expose spaces in the event. “At this moment, the accusations are simply that. They are accusations,” she stated.

A local of the Bahamas who pertained to Maryland about ten years back, Leslie liked to rap, dance and action even under the concern of earlier disasters. His mom passed away in 2015 after a long health problem; his daddy was stabbed to death in 2019 by a guy who got into his house, according to relative and press accounts.

” He lost a lot,” Valuable Taylor, an auntie, stated over the phone from the Bahamas.

” He had a great deal of characteristics breaking him, however he was a great kid,” stated Mark Joyeux, the director of the Maryland carrying out arts group Skill Group For Kid who functioned as a coach to Leslie. “When you fulfilled him, you liked him.”

Simply 2 weeks prior to his death– around the time of his late daddy’s birthday– Leslie got a number of dates tattooed on his neck, according to another auntie, Tasheka Graham. The very first were birth dates and death dates of his moms and dads. The last was his own birth date.

” They were constantly on his mind,” Graham stated.

It was prior to 6 p.m. on Might 18 when a run-in appeared at the City train station in downtown Wheaton on an escalator leading down to the platform. It continued when the celebrations reached the bottom.

” The victim was escaping,” Montgomery Assistant State’s Lawyer Peter Larson stated in court Thursday, “when the offender fired the shot that eventually eliminated him.”

Several victims injured, 2 eliminated, in shootings in Maryland, D.C.

The whole episode, Larson stated, was recorded by security video. And initially, cops stated, investigators simply had descriptions of the youths they were seeing: a physical battle on the escalator; a victim escaping and being up to the ground; 3 to 4 others running towards a waiting train; among those suspects– using a hooded sweatshirt bearing the words “Bad Routines However Great Objectives”– handing a weapon to a boy using a white hoodie.

Detectives discovered of previous cops contacts with both suspects, according to court records, and had the ability to recognize them as family members– one 16, the other 14. The 2 were apprehended Wednesday.

After court on Thursday, Montgomery’s leading district attorney stated the remarks by Holly about juveniles were area on. “I believe the judge was dead right,” Montgomery State’s Lawyer John McCarthy stated, pointing out a series of cases including young culprits and weapons. “It’s not a trick that we are taking pistols at a record level in this neighborhood.”

Graham, Leslie’s auntie, stated his relative in Maryland and the Bahamas have actually been jolted two times this month– very first knowing Leslie had actually been shot and after that discovering the ages of the suspects. “I can’t comprehend it,” Graham stated.

Her nephew may argue with individuals, she stated, however he never ever turned violent. “Why would all of the abrupt they shoot him– in the head, shoot to eliminate?”

He was 14 when he was charged with murder. He might be out of custody in less than a year.

Graham stated Leslie dealt with her and his granny in Maryland. “He relocated with my mom since it was best for him,” she stated.

Leslie’s 6 brother or sisters, whom he was close with, stayed in the Bahamas. “Moving far from them was a little rocky initially,” Graham stated.

However he invested a growing number of a time at the Kentland Recreation Center in Prince George’s County, playing basketball and other sports. He got associated with Joyeux’s carrying out arts group.

” He had the most transmittable smile,” Joyeux stated.

His grades varied– acing tests when he used himself and doing badly when he didn’t, Joyeux stated. “Really clever, and if he did the work he did excellent. He simply wasn’t constantly encouraged at school,” he stated.

” He had a great deal of viewpoints and he might be argumentative,” Joyeux stated. “However he was never ever, never ever violent.”

In 2019, Leslie’s daddy– Tenneson Vaughn Leslie– and his daddy’s sweetheart were killed in the Bahamas in their apartment or condo, according to the Bahama Press.

After his daddy passed away, Leslie composed a homage to him on social networks, according to a copy of the publishing offered by Taylor, another auntie.

” Missing out on u pops,” he composed. “U taught me how to constantly keep my direct … Conserve an area up dere for me. Till then, ima continue your tradition wit dis name. I like you.”