Youth charged in shooting of girl
He was on probation for weapons charge; judge stayed prison
By ANNYSA JOHNSON
Posted: June 16, 2007
An 18-year-old man charged Saturday in the shooting that left a 12-year-old girl in critical condition this week was convicted last year on weapons charges, but placed on probation and sent to a program for non-violent offenders.
Rahjeen Mitchell was shot outside her home.
Cortney Martel Terry, 4869 N. 24th St., faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted in the Wednesday shooting of Rahjeen Mitchell, who suffered severe brain damage after being shot in the forehead outside her home in the 5000 block of N. 28th St.
Terry was charged Saturday with first-degree reckless injury and use of a dangerous weapon.
Terry told police he knew Rahjeen and her family, and was so distraught by the shooting that he'd sent them three letters of apology - one to Rahjeen herself - and agreed, against his family's advice, to talk with police without an attorney.
He "sounded extremely remorseful while giving his detailed account of what had happened," Assistant District Attorney Thomas L. Potter said in the criminal complaint issued Saturday.
According to the complaint, Terry was on the losing end of a fight with a 15-year-old shortly before 8 p.m. Wednesday, when Terry asked a friend for a gun, pointed it at Kelley, then decided not to shoot.
But as Kelley walked away with a group of friends, Terry fired two shots toward them, hitting Rahjeen.
Witnesses said she had just walked out of the house where her family was grilling in the backyard.
A physician who treated Rahjeen at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin told police that the bullet shattered her skull and caused "substantial brain damage," according to the complaint.
A Milwaukee Police detective is quoted in the complaint as saying Rahjeen had not regained consciousness, but it was unclear how up-to-date that information was.
Terry told police he had bought the .357-caliber revolver used in the shooting for $150 about three months ago for protection because his brother had been imprisoned for a homicide.
Police recovered the gun in a doghouse near where Terry was arrested, about two hours after the shooting.
Terry had pleaded guilty in August to carrying a concealed weapon and possessing a firearm in a school zone.
He was given 18 months in prison, but Judge Dennis Moroney stayed the sentence, putting him on probation and ordering him to spend six months in the House of Correction and enroll in the Community Justice Resource Center program for non-violent offenders.
Rahjeen, the youngest of six children, had just finished the sixth grade at Barton Elementary School.
Hers is at least the second serious shooting of a child in Milwaukee this spring.
Four-year-old Jasmine Owens was struck in the head and killed by an errant bullet as she was skipping rope outside her north side home in May.
Police have not announced any arrests in that case.
