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A northern Indiana boy who was 14 when he was arrested for allegedly taking part in a drive-by shooting that killed a woman inside a home will be charged as an adult in the shooting.
Tuesday’s ruling by a St. Joseph County Magistrate Judge Graham Polando found probable cause to charge Braeyln Rios, 15, with murder and attempted murder in the death of 28-year-old Rhema Harris. The magistrate also ruled that the severity of his alleged actions merited moving the case to superior, or adult, court.
The magistrate ordered that the teen be housed at the Indiana Department of Corrections’ juvenile facility in Logansport while he awaits trial, the South Bend Tribune reported.
Harris, an Army veteran who was a jail officer for the St. Joseph County Police Department, was fatally shot in June while at a gathering at a friend’s house in Mishawaka.
Mishawaka police allege that Harris was shot by Braxton Bird, 17, when Bird, Rios and some other friends drove to the house because a teenage girl who Bird was feuding with lived there.
Witnesses told police the two teens were riding in a car with three other juveniles when they shot at the back of a home, intending to strike the girl. One of the bullets instead struck Harris, who was among at least five people, including children, inside the home.
Bird faces murder, attempted murder and criminal recklessness charges in the fatal shooting
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