Police Report Sheds Light On D.C. Metro Fatal Stabbing Of Md. Teen
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A teenager charged with fatally stabbing another teen inside a District of Columbia Metro station confessed to the killing but told a police officer that he acted in self-defense, according to police documents.
Chavez Myers, 17, was ordered held without bond during a court appearance Monday in the death early Saturday of 18-year-old Olijawon Griffin inside the Woodley Park Metro station in northwest Washington. Though Myers said he acted in self-defense, security footage from the station shows Myers "sneaking up behind" Griffin and stabbing him once in the chest as Griffin fought with someone else, a detective wrote in documents charging Myers in the death.
Myers, who is being charged as an adult, faces charges of second-degree murder while armed, and assault with a dangerous weapon. Eight other juveniles were also arrested. His public defender didn't immediately return a call seeking comment Monday evening.
Police say Griffin earlier in the night had been attacked and robbed of an iPhone and a Helly Hansen jacket by a group of youths in the Adams Morgan neighborhood from whom he had apparently planned to buy marijuana. A "visibly angry" Griffin then walked with two friends to the Metro station, where they encountered a group of 10 to 12 teenagers believed to have been involved in the robbery -- including one who was wearing Griffin's jacket, police say.
Griffin, a recent graduate of Sherwood High School in Sandy Spring who had been a member of the football team there, demanded the jacket back but was told by the teen wearing it, "You're going to have to see us!" according to the charging documents.
Security footage from the Metro station shows Griffin, who was unarmed, approaching several of the teenagers to fight, police say. As Griffin exchanged punches with one of the other teenagers, a knife-wielding Myers sneaked up from behind and stabbed Griffin once in the chest while his back was turned. A friend Griffin was with sustained a fractured nose in the fight.
The nine teenagers were detained at the Metro station, a centrally located and popular transit point that services the National Zoo and Adams Morgan. Under questioning, police say Myers admitted that he stabbed Griffin in self-defense but denied having been involved in the robbery earlier in the night.
He faces a preliminary hearing Nov. 30.
(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
