Mother of LeFlore student charged in school shooting questions whether daughter had gun
By Brendan Kirby
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MOBILE, Alabama (WALA) — The mother of a LeFlore High School student charged with a school shooting questioned the evidence against her daughter after a judge postponed a preliminary hearing on Monday.
“It’s been so many stories, and we’re just trying to get to the bottom of it,” the mother said as she was leaving the courtroom in Mobile County District Court. “I really don’t know.”
The mother, who declined to give her name, questioned whether her daughter actually had a gun on the afternoon of Jan. 30.
“I don’t even know that she had a gun,” she said. “Do you know that she had a gun?”
Told that police have made that accusation, she answered: “Oh, they don’t even know if she had a gun.”
The girl’s identity has not been revealed because of a law that protects the anonymity of defendants younger than 18 – even when they are charged as adults.
According to police, the student got into an altercation with a 15-year-old boy, took out a gun and fired … missing him and hitting another student.
The shooting prompted a review of the Mobile County Public School System security protocols, and Superintendent Chresal Threadgill on Monday said he expects to announce changes by the end of this week or next week.
The family only recently hired a lawyer, who was not present Monday. So Mobile County District Judge Spiro Cheriogotis rescheduled the preliminary hearing for March 11. At that time, prosecutors will have to demonstrate that they have enough evidence to send the case to a grand jury for possible indictment.
Mobile County District Attorney Keith Blackwood said he believes the case is strong that the defendant was armed.
“I think the evidence will be pretty clear on that point,” he said. “There’s some surveillance footage that will be presented at trial, at least. There’ll be testimony about it at the preliminary hearing.”
If convicted of first-degree assault with a gun, the student faces 10 to 20 years in prison.
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