Suspect in double killing on 17th Street bridge in Midtown takes plea deal
A teenager accused in a 2022 shooting near Atlantic Station that left a 12-year-old and a 15-year-old dead took a plea deal Friday.
A’Micael Aziz, 17, is one of six suspects tied to the deaths of Zyion Charles and Cameron Jackson, who were fatally shot Nov. 26 on the 17th Street bridge in Midtown, according to officials. Aziz entered a negotiated guilty plea to two counts of causing a person to become a member of a street gang and was sentenced to 10 years with five years to serve in prison, court records show.
Prosecutors argued during Friday’s hearing that surveillance footage proved Aziz did not play a crucial role in the shooting, according to Channel 2 Action News.
“This defendant did not have a firearm, he did not fire any firearm,” a prosecutor said regarding the night of the shooting.
Investigators previously said a group of teens and children was escorted off the Atlantic Station property for unruly behavior and violation of the area’s curfew that night. They moved to the 17th Street bridge nearby, where shots were fired moments later at about 8 p.m.
Charles, 12, died at the scene. Jackson, 15, who police said was the intended target, died days later in the hospital after he was shot while on a scooter. Four others were injured during the incident.
Three teens were arrested and charged with murder soon after the shooting. All six suspects were indicted in February, a month prior to the final two suspects being arrested.
According to officials, all of the suspects were associated with the Fast Money Killers gang and the shooting was gang-related.
Jackson’s mother, Tiffany Smith, told Channel 2 that she is unsure about the plea deal.
“(For) the mother in me that will never see her child again, it’s not enough,” she said, adding that she wants the suspects to “look me in my face so that I can say and show you the hurt that you’ve caused to a mother.”
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