A 16-year-old accused of killing his 13-year-old brother made a first appearance in a Cobb County court Saturday.
Oscar Mondragon was taken into custody Friday evening after he was found hiding in a trailer at the Edengate Mobile Home Park in the 200 block of Clay Drive in Marietta, police said.
At the court hearing Saturday, a judge read him the felony murder and aggravated assault charges, and the teenager said he understood them, according to Channel 2 Action News. Mondragon's next court appearance was set for June 28 at 1 p.m. The judge informed the youth, who is being held without bond, that if he did not have an attorney one would be assigned to him.
Cobb police spokesman Sgt. Dana Pierce said Mondragon, who has has been charged with possession of a firearm by a minor, was being held in the Marietta Youth Detention Center.
Officers responding to a 9:24 p.m. 911 call about a shooting at the Eastside Mobile Home Park on Eastside Drive found the younger boy dead inside the trailer, Pierce said. Police did not release the name of the victim, but neighbors told the AJC the boy who died was Javier Mondragon, one of six children living in the home.
Police have not yet determined what led to the shooting and whether or not it was accidental, Pierce said. Neighbors told the AJC that three brothers were seen playing with a gun outside their Cobb County home earlier Thursday.
Friends and neighbors at the mobile home park described Javier as a polite boy who was looking forward to being a seventh-grader at Griffin Middle School in the fall.
"He was the best friend I've ever had," Emoni Jones, 13, told the AJC as her mother, Errietta Jones, stood beside her. "I tell him everything and I trust him with everything. He didn't deserve to die like that."
Oscar Mondragon, neighbors told the AJC, is the opposite.
The suspect has never attended a Cobb County high school, Jay Dillon, district spokesman, told the AJC. Earlier reports indicated the teen had attended Osborne High School.
Oscar Mondragon was often in trouble for having drugs or fighting, and bragged of having weapons, Sherly Parada, 15, told the AJC. Parade said Oscar, Javier and a younger brother were all playing with a gun outside earlier Thursday, hours before Javier was killed.
Errietta Jones told the AJC she also saw the boys playing with guns, but assumed they were toys.
"They were running around the house playing with guns," Jones said. "I didn’t even think, ‘Are those for real?' "
--John Spink, Alexis Stevens, Mike Morris and Angel K. Brooks contributed to this article.
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