Teen Suspects In Novato High School Shooting, Stabbing Charged As Adults
NOVATO (CBS SF) -- Two teenage suspects will be charged as adults for the killing of 17-year-old Edwin Ramirez and the wounding of another student last Wednesday at Novato High, the Marin County District Attorney's office said Tuesday.
17-year-old Juan Carlos Martinez Henriquez and 16-year-old Edwin Guevara are charged with murder and attempted murder with special circumstances, according to the complaint. Neither will face the death penalty because they are minors, but they could be sentenced to life without parole.
Ramirez died after he was shot in the head and stabbed early Wednesday evening on a hiking trail bordering a country club. Another teenager was also shot stabbed, but is expected to survive.
The two teen suspects were arrested during a tactical raid last Thursday just blocks away from the school. Both were classmates of the victims.
A third suspect, 20-year-old Elmer Machado-Rivera was arrested Sunday. He is charged as an accessory and being held without bail. Investigators said there is a fourth juvenile suspect who is still at-large.
Meantime, classes resumed at Novato High School on Tuesday. The school has been closed since Thursday.
Novato High senior Brandyn Ramirez knew the victim as "Josue."
"It's kind of sad that it's happened," said Brandyn. "It's kinda awkward just to, like, come to class and all of a sudden like, 'Yo, he's gone.'"
Ramirez described the teen victims in the attack as "good kids."
"They weren't bad," said Brandyn. They were always quiet, calm, kept to themselves."
Brandyn said he also knew one of the suspects, Edwin.
"He seemed like a kid who wouldn't do this," said Brandyn.
Students told KPIX 5 they are just trying to move on.
"It just kind of hits you hard, and I had trouble sleeping that night," said Novato High student Charles Miller.
"We never really experience something like this," said Brandyn. "We've always heard about it but in our own backyard, in our own area, people we know. It's not something you get used to."