FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) – Allen County prosecutors have charged a second teenager as an adult in connection to a summer shooting that left a 16-year-old girl dead.
Jalayah Brown, 16, is now facing a felony count of conspiracy to commit murder in the death of Le’Brishia Hobbs, who medics and rescue workers found in the backyard of a Fort Wayne home suffering from a gunshot wound to the head one morning this past July.
Hobbs ultimately succumbed to her wounds in August.
It’s not clear exactly what role Brown is accused of playing in the killing, as documents to her case are not available since it began in the juvenile court.
Charging documents, however, say that she is accused of helping another juvenile in either obtaining a gun, hiding the gun after the fact or assisting the juvenile in getting to Hobbs’ location while knowing the shooting might happen.
Monday, prosecutors issued a warrant for Brown’s arrest. She has since been booked into Allen County Jail.
The conspiracy to commit murder count is punishable by 20 to 40 years in prison.
Earlier this summer, prosecutors charged 16-year-old Elaysha N. Underwood as an adult with felony counts of murder and conspiracy to commit murder in Hobbs’ death.
Underwood is accused of shooting Hobbs, possibly over a relationship gone bad, sometime before the morning of July 6, according to Allen Superior Court documents.
Hobbs was found in the backyard of her home where she had probably been for up to nine hours while it rained overnight, according to court documents. The oldest of seven children, Hobbs never left the hospital medics rushed her to after her family found her. She died in late August.
At some point during the evening or morning of the shooting, Hobbs began receiving text messages from Underwood, according to investigators.
The messages appeared to be over the two girls’ relationship, a police detective wrote in court documents. Underwood eventually came over to the home – it’s not completely clear when, but it appears either the late night hours of July 5 or the early morning hours of July 6 – and wanted to come inside.
Hobbs did not let Underwood in the front door, according to court documents. She finally relented and met Underwood outside when the girl came to the home’s back door. A witness inside the home – who police did not identify – heard Hobbs say ‘stop’ followed by the sound of a gunshot.
This witness thought the gunshot was possibly Underwood firing her gun in the air as she had done in the past, court documents said.
In an interview with police, Underwood claimed she went to the home’s front door but left when nobody answered, according to court documents. A witness who supposedly drove Underwood to the home refuted that in a separate interview, saying the girl did indeed go to the back door before leaving.
Prosecutors initially charged Underwood with attempted murder but then went with the murder charge upon Hobbs’ death. Her trial is scheduled to begin Aug. 1.
It’s not clear when Brown will have a court appearance.
