FREEHOLD, N.J. (AP) - A teenager charged as an adult in a shooting that left a 10-year-old boy dead and his mother wounded will remain jailed until his trial.
Sixteen-year-old Jah-Del Birch, of Neptune Township, faces murder and other charges stemming from the Feb. 21 shooting at an Asbury Park home.
Birch’s lawyer argued Tuesday that his client only went to the home to buy marijuana and feared he would be injured when shots rang out. But Monmouth County prosecutors say video from a street surveillance camera and other evidence shows Birch played an integral role in the shooting.
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Authorities say Birch was an accomplice to 18-year-old Karon Council, who had been involved in an altercation with a man who lived at the home. When Council couldn’t find him there, he allegedly opened fire.
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