A DeKalb County suspect in the murder of a Gwinnett 17-year-old has been denied a request for bond.
Jerell Curtis, also 17, faces charges of aggravated assault and murder in the June 9 shooting of Erasmus Pratt outside an apartment complex, police records show.
Curtis was arrested a week and a half later and was denied bond by Judge Mark Anthony Scott on July 2, according to court records.
"I just want him to be here right now with me," the victim’s mother Julie Pratt told Channel 2 Action News.
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It was around 3:30 p.m. when DeKalb County police found Erasmus Pratt, who lived in Lawrenceville, shot outside Terra Creek Apartments on Central Drive near Stone Mountain.
Warrants say the suspect's girlfriend said Curtis told her the victim had tried to rob him. Curtis allegedly said he shot Pratt in the process.
It isn’t clear what police believe happened to lead to the shooting.
The victim’s father, Edward Pratt, said his son was hospitalized three days before he was pronounced dead.
"We were told he was brain dead. He was just lying there. He was in a coma, and there was nothing they could do,” the father told Channel 2.
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