Teens Charged With Murder Appear Before A Judge
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Two teenagers, arrested and charged with the shooting death of 17-year-old boy, made their first appearance in court Thursday morning.
Eddy Moore, 16, and Keyondric Daniels, 15, are charged with second-degree murder in the killing of 17-year-old Jultavious Williams.
Moore's mother sat in court, listening quietly as her son stood before a judge during his detention hearing.
"Is this your first time in court," asked the judge.
"Yes, mam," said Moore.
In court, CBS4's Peter D'Oench learned they may be prosecuted as adults.
Zayas said to Moore, "The state has announced its intention to review the case for direct file to the Grand Jury. Do you understand that?"
"Yes, mam," said Moore.
The Judge ruled that the youngsters would be held in secure detention pending another hearing at the end of the month.
Mark Coats, the Pastor at the Grace Christian Preparatory School in Goulds where Williams had been enrolled since September, said "My reaction to the arrests is bitter sweet."
Coats told CBS4's Peter D'Oench, "I am happy that they were able to detain the gentlemen involved. But obviously they are someone's children and I am sorry to see this happen with children. As I have said you never get good ends with evil means. It is my sincere prayer that will be a community effort to produce more programs to channel kids into. It is a tragic situation but not something we can not overcome."
"The question I keep asking is how are they able to get their hands on all these guns," said Coats. "They have to be coming from somewhere. The challenge is to find out how this is happening and do something about it."
The shooting took place Sunday afternoon around 5 p.m. at Blakey Park, which is located on the 600 block of Southwest 14th Avenue in Homestead.
According to police, Moore, Daniels and a third person walked to the park and approached a friend of Williams.
Williams was sitting on a bench nearby and they called out to him.
There was an exchange of heated words, and when Williams stood up, Moore and Daniels pulled out guns and fired at him then ran out of the park, according to police.
According to an arrest report, Moore and Daniels went to the park "with the intent of shooting rival gang members."
The Miami-Dade Police Department Homicide Bureau has been working hard on this the case and on Wednesday, both Moore and Daniels were taken into custody.
"It's sad to see that we have juveniles, the ages of 15 and 16 years old, with their hands on guns, committing these acts of violence," said Miami-Dade Police Detective Alvaro Zabaleta. "The worst type of crime you can commit, which is a homicide, and take the life of a 17-year-old that from what I saw across the media waves is that he was an athlete."
Police are thankful that members of the community helped to bring the alleged shooters to justice.
"Previous cases we knew that there was that silence where nobody, even though it was five in the afternoon, nobody saw nothing," said Zabaleta. "But in this case, they may have not necessarily spoken to investigators on the scene, but the information got to us."
Williams was an expectant father, with a baby girl due in April.
On Thursday, Moore's mother later left court without saying anything about her son or the charges against him.
Another hearing is set for January 30th in the case.
D'Oench also stopped at the home of Keyondric Daniels but no family members there wanted to say anything about this case.