The stabbing of a 17-year-old boy at The Mall in Columbia on Tuesday is believed to be drug-related, police said yesterday as they announced that two teenagers had been charged in the incident.
Word that arrests had been made, and that the crime was not believed to be random, came as a relief to some shoppers at the mall, but some said they remained surprised that violence had come to one of the Howard County community's prime gathering spots.
"I didn't feel that something like that would happen in this area," Linda Hand of Clarksville said outside JC Penney, not far from where the crime occurred. "I feel relatively safe here."
As the stabbing victim remained in critical condition yesterday, police identified the two teenagers charged in the incident.
Bernardo Leconte, 18, of Columbia and Cordero D. Taylor, 16, of Forestville in Prince George's County have been charged with attempted first- and second-degree murder, first- and second-degree assault, carrying a concealed weapon and reckless endangerment.
A Howard County District Court judge denied bail yesterday for Taylor, who was charged as an adult. Leconte also is being held without bail pending a postponed bail review hearing.
The victim is Julian Lichtenstein, according to charging documents, and police said yesterday that he was in critical condition and stable at Shock Trauma.
Officers responded to a call at the mall about 4 p.m. Tuesday and found Lichtenstein with multiple stab wounds in a parking lot near the JC Penney department store. He was taken by state police helicopter to Maryland Shock Trauma Center, where he underwent surgery.
Police apprehended Leconte and Taylor, who were spotted running separately from the scene, shortly after the stabbing, according to charging documents. Leconte "dropped a bloody knife when confronted by the officer," the documents said.
Both suspects later admitted their involvement in the altercation and that Leconte had used a knife to stab the victim, according to the documents, which referred to the weapon carried by Leconte as a "folding knife."
Witnesses told police that Leconte and Taylor were the only people fighting with Lichtenstein, according to the documents.
Late yesterday, county police spokeswoman Sherry Llewellyn said no details about the drug aspect of the incident were available.
Mall management sought yesterday to assure the public that safety is a priority.
