The teenage boy accused of firing the errant shot that critically injured a 5-year-old girl had cut off an electronic home monitoring bracelet mandated by the state after he pleaded guilty to a juvenile charge, The Baltimore Sun has learned.
Lamont Davis, 17, who has been arrested 15 times as a juvenile since he was 10, was ordered held without bond Monday in a bail review hearing in which his public defender sought to keep him from making an appearance.
Davis was arrested July 4 and charged as an adult with two counts of attempted first-degree murder after police say he returned to the scene of a street fight and sprayed bullets. One hit Raven Wyatt in the head and another struck a teen with whom he had argued.
In a statement, a state Department of Juvenile Services spokeswoman confirmed that Davis had been detained for several weeks and was released to state custody.
"We placed him on GPS, the highest sanction the department has, and we were monitoring him in real time," said agency spokeswoman Tammy Brown. "It was about 15 minutes after he cut off his bracelet that our workers were out looking for him. We then worked close with Baltimore police to apprehend him."
Sources, who were not authorized to discuss Davis' case because juvenile proceedings are sealed, said Davis had been committed to the custody of the state juvenile services agency since February 2008. During that time, he was arrested and charged in four incidents, not including last week's shooting.
At Monday's bail review hearing, a public defender went to great lengths to prevent Davis from having to appear in the courtroom. After listening to arguments from attorneys, District Court Judge George M. Lipman ordered that Davis, who has a teardrop tattoo under his right eye, not stand when his name was read.
His attorney declined to argue against Davis' no-bail status, preventing information about his background and criminal history from being read aloud.
Meanwhile, several blocks away at the Juvenile Justice Center, the intended victim of Thursday's shooting appeared in a juvenile courtroom for an arraignment. The charges were unclear, as reporters were evicted from the courtroom. Prosecutor Jennifer Rallo, citing safety concerns for the boy, asked Master James P. Casey to close the courtroom. The Baltimore Sun is not identifying the 17-year-old because he has been charged as a juvenile.
