Rock Hill teen charged in killing lied and said friend shot self, prosecutor says
A 15-year-old Rock Hill boy initially lied to police after shooting his 14-year-old friend in the face with a stolen gun by claiming the victim shot himself, prosecutors said.
However, there was a witness to the shooting that happened Sept. 25 around 1 p.m. at an apartment that left Braylen Jackson dead, prosecutor Erin Joyner said in court Wednesday. The boy kept pulling the magazine that holds the gun’s bullets in and out before firing the single shot that killed Braylen instantly, Joyner said.
Rock Hill police charged the teen with involuntary manslaughter, breaking into a motor vehicle, possession of a stolen gun, and possession of a handgun by someone under 18.
The witness to the shooting has not been named and did not testify Wednesday.
The boy remains a danger to the community because of the choices he made to steal the Glock handgun the night before from an unlocked car in the parking lot of his apartment complex, play with the gun, point it at Braylen’s face, then pull the trigger, Joyner said.
“This was a decision with very tragic consequences,” Joyner told Family Court Judge Chad Smith in the boy’s first appearance in York County Family Court Wednesday.
The boy has been in S.C. Department of Juvenile Justice custody since his arrest hours after the shooting, but his lawyer asked Judge Smith on Wednesday to let him out as the case churns through the courts.
The teen was in court Wednesday but did not speak. He hung his head during the almost 45-minute hearing.
Smith ruled there is probable cause for prosecutors to move forward with the case, and ordered the boy to remain jailed.
The Herald is not naming the defendant because of his age.
Defendant’s lawyer, family: He should be released
Joshua Brown, the boy’s lawyer from the MLB Law Firm, argued the boy had been getting counseling at the time of the incident and needs treatment to continue rather than staying jailed.
Brown argued juvenile jail where the boy is locked down 18 hours a day and was reportedly without a working toilet for days will not afford the defendant the support he needs to handle the shooting death of his friend until the case can get resolved.
“I see a young man who is having some trouble, puberty and all that,” Brown said of the defendant.
Brown called Braylen’s death a “tragic situation” but said the shooting was “not a malicious act.”
The boy’s mother told Judge Smith her son looked at Braylen as a “little brother” and is devastated by what happened. She described her son as a “social butterfly” who has “never been a danger to anybody.”
“My son is a calm, funny, loving person,” the mother said.
A family friend told the judge the boy could stay with her in a gated community in nearby Lancaster County as the court case moves on.
Braylen’s family: Boy choose to shoot him
The request for release from jail prompted outrage from Braylen’s family, who packed one side of the courtroom. Many loved ones cried as prosecutors spoke of the single gunshot that killed Braylen.
Braylen’s older brother, Jordyn Isom, told Judge Smith no person would point a gun at a friend. Braylen’s family had warned him to stay away from the defendant because of the defendant’s previous behavior, Isom said.
Isom then even asked Judge Smith: “I do have a question for you, judge: Would you point a gun at your friend?”
Smith told Isom it is not proper for a judge to answer such a question, and then Isom said: ”Everybody in here knows the answer to that.”
Isom said asking to get the suspect more mental health treatment now only comes after his brother died from being shot in the face with a stolen gun.
“Don’t nobody care until it’s too late,” Isom told Smith.
Braylen’s older sister, mother, and grandmother also asked Smith not to release the boy.
“No amount of sorry can bring him back,” said Braylen‘s grandmother, Valerie Johnson. “We can’t wish this away... we cant pray it away.”
The killing of her son, who was a quiet and gentle boy, has left her “broken, shattered and just confused,” said his mother, Rylan Jackson.
Judge: ‘Profound loss’
Smith patiently allowed both sides to be heard in the court in a courthouse where even hallways outside filled with tears and crying over the death of a child. He spoke of the gun violence that has shaken Rock Hill and the public.
“The court recognizes the profound loss that has occurred with the death of 14-year-old young man Braylen,” Smith said in court. “Tragic cases like these leave a lasting mark on families, neighborhoods and our community.”
Under South Carolina law, the boy and his lawyer can ask for his release at other hearings in the next month.
Until then he remains at the state’s juvenile jail in Columbia.
