Two people were arraigned Wednesday morning on charges including second-degree murder for a shooting which killed three-year-old Shaquelle Walker and wounded three others. Dequan Richardson and Jonay Robinson also face assault and weapons possession charges stemming from the July 5 shooting on Donavan Drive in Buffalo.
The prosecution said cell phone records along with Robinson’s car placed Robinson and Richardson together at the scene of the crime.
Erie County District Attorney John Flynn discussed the murder counts.
“Each one of them has two counts,” he said. “They were charged under two different legal theories, the first being a theory of murder on depraved indifference, depraved indifference being firing a multiple rounds into a crowd of people. The second legal theory is on a transferred intent to commit murder theory.”
“When you intend to shoot someone and you miss that person and hit someone else under the law, I can transfer that intentional murder to the third person,” Flynn added. “So obviously we are not saying that they intended to shoot a three year old, but we are alleging they intended to shoot someone else and missed and hit the three year old.”
Robinson and Richardson are being held without bail until their next court appearance Sept. 21. They face a maximum of life in prison.