Prosecutors have decided to charge a 16-year-old Legacy High School student with attempted murder in connection with the shooting of a fellow student.
The decision means the suspect, Michael Johnson, will be tried as an adult in District Court.
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It also means that Johnson will face a maximum penalty of 40 years in prison if convicted of the charge, which includes an allegation that he used a deadly weapon during the incident.
"Any time somebody shoots somebody with a gun, we're going to file attempted murder charges," Chief Deputy District Attorney Scott Mitchell said Wednesday.
North Las Vegas police arrested the suspect Oct. 10 on a charge of battery with a deadly weapon, but Mitchell later reviewed the case and decided to file attempted murder charges. The decision automatically transferred the case from Juvenile Court to District Court.
Johnson's arrest came a day after 14-year-old Kiera Barnes, a freshman at Legacy High School, was shot in the leg while walking home after school.
Mitchell said evidence indicates the bullet was intended for someone else.
"This appeared to be a retaliation shooting for remarks allegedly made earlier by the intended victim," the prosecutor said.
Johnson has been charged with two counts of attempted murder with a deadly weapon and one count of battery with a deadly weapon. Mitchell said the defendant can only be convicted of one of those charges.
The prosecutor said the criminal complaint mistakenly lists Barnes as the victim of all three counts. One count of attempted murder should list the name of the boy authorities have identified as the intended target, Mitchell said.
Johnson also faces a charge of changing, removing or obliterating the serial number of a firearm.
In an interview after the shooting, Barnes told the Review-Journal she had just stepped off a school bus from Legacy and was walking with a friend up Coleman Street, near Tropical Parkway, when another classmate ran by.
"He was yelling, 'He's got a gun,' " Barnes said. "I thought he was joking."
She said she looked around and saw a boy pull a gun from another boy's backpack. She kept walking but soon heard a bang and felt a sharp pain in the back of her leg. Barnes said she did not know the boys with the gun.
Johnson, who is at the North Las Vegas Detention Center, was arraigned Wednesday in North Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Stephen Dahl's courtroom.
