GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The accused gunman in a marijuana robbery that left a 17-year-old dead has been ordered to stand trial after two co-defendants testified Friday about events leading up to the fatal shooting in a shopping center parking lot.
Israel Valdez, 17, is accused of shooting James King in the face during a planned marijuana robbery at the Towne and Country Shopping Center. King, a student at East Kentwood High School, died at the scene.
A handgun was tossed down a city storm drain and two of the defendants tried to purge information from their cellphones following the Jan. 13 shooting, according to testimony Friday.
Four of the five teens charged with open murder waived their preliminary hearings on Friday, moving the cases to Kent County Circuit Court.
A hearing was held for Valdez, which included testimony from two of his co-defendants and a Grand Rapids police detective.
After hearing testimony for more than an hour, Grand Rapids District Court Judge Jennifer Faber determined there was enough evidence to send the felony case against Valdez to Kent County Circuit Court.
Valdez is charged with open murder, assault with intent to rob while armed and conspiracy to commit armed robbery.
Co-defendants Alanah Claflin, 18, and Ahmed Hasan, 17, testified at Friday’s hearing before a packed courtroom.
According to testimony and police accounts, the marijuana robbery had been in the works prior to a Jan. 13 meeting at the shopping center parking lot at Kalamazoo Avenue and 44th Street SE.
It involved a quarter pound of marijuana with a value of between $600 and $700.
Hasan drove the accused gunman and others to the shopping center, but he got out of the car before the shooting. King got into the back seat with Valdez; Claflin was in the front seat with 17-year-old Kayleb Sims.
Hasan testified that he heard a gunshot and someone yell ‘oh, my God. Call 9-1-1.’’
King was pronounced dead at the scene.
Sims and Sebastian Quinones, 17, were not in court for Friday’s hearing. They, along with Claflin, Hasan and Valdez, remain in the Kent County Jail.