‘Vague Description of Shooter’ Doesn’t Link Defendant to Murder of 15-Year-Old Teen, Defense Says

By Andrew Michaels - February 2, 2024
Court | Daily Stories | Homicides | Shooting | Suspects | Victims |

The murder of 15-year-old Ja’Nyi Weeden happened because Zachariah Allison brought a gun to a fight between a group of teenage girls, a Baltimore City prosecutor said in a describing a complex series of events at the start of the defendant’s trial on Jan. 30.

Starting Aug. 8, 2021, two days before the shooting, a 15-year-old girl and an 18-year-old girl got into a fistfight resulting from a dispute on the 4700 block of Wakefield Road. The former then challenged the latter to another fight the next day.

That evening, according to prosecutors, the 15-year-old girl, her 17-year-old sister and their friends—including Allison—went to the 18-year-old girl’s home after she did not show up for the fight. The group kicked in the door to the 18-year-old’s apartment on Wakefield Road, but left the scene after the teen called 911. 

In the prosecution’s narrative, the 18-year-old and her friends went to the sisters’ home on the 3600 block of Eversley Street on Aug. 10, 2021, with Weeden in tow, and began throwing rocks and bricks through the front door. Moments later, Allison allegedly walked out of the house and began firing gunshots in the group’s direction, hitting Weeden in the back of her neck.

Baltimore Police Department (BPD) officers found Weeden on the 3700 block of Gelston Drive and took her to University of Maryland Shock Trauma, where she died from her injuries.

During her opening statement on Tuesday, the prosecutor said Allison sold the murder weapon—a 9mm handgun—two days later.

“This didn’t have to end that way,” she said.

“This case is very, very sad all the way around,” defense attorney Andre Mahasa said as he stood before the jury. “Miss Weeden should not have perished.”

However, he continued, the prosecution’s case against Allison relies on “weak evidence,” specifically, “a very generic, vague description of the shooter.”

Mahasa said no DNA, fingerprints or video linked his 18-year-old client—who was 16 at the time of the shooting—to the murder. The only description of the shooter is a black teenager wearing a white shirt and black shorts.

Furthermore, the shooting occurred around 1 a.m. on a street where there is only one light post, defense counsel noted.

“It was a very chaotic scene,” Mahasa said.

Allison’s trial continued with testimony Tuesday afternoon and is expected to continue on Jan. 31, with Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Robert K. Taylor Jr. presiding.

The defendant is currently charged with first-degree murder, firearm use in a felony or violent crime, being a minor in possession of a firearm, reckless endangerment, third-degree burglary and second-degree assault.