Kenosha student dies from stab wounds
Classmate is charged as adult with homicide
The 15-year-old boy stabbed by a classmate earlier this week at Bradford High School in Kenosha has died, and his assailant was charged Friday as an adult with homicide.
Timothy Carson, 15, appeared in court Friday afternoon on a charge of second-degree intentional homicide by use of a deadly weapon. He had been held at a juvenile detention center in West Bend since his arrest Tuesday, but will now be booked into the Kenosha County Jail and held on $250,000 bail.
The victim — identified in media reports as Dezjon Taylor — suffered a single stab wound to the heart on Tuesday. He was treated initially at a Kenosha hospital, then flown to Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin, where he died Friday morning.
According to the criminal complaint, which identified the victim only as D.L.T. — Carson and the victim used to be friends but had a falling out in recent weeks over Carson spending more time with his girlfriend. At one point, Carson accused D.L.T. of telling Carson’s girlfriend lies to try to break them up, and the two boys began exchanging texts about arranging a fight.
A friend of D.L.T.’s told police that on Monday or Tuesday of last week, a fight had been set for Union Park. Carson and another boy arrived, as did D.L.T. and his two friends. One of those friends told police Carson pulled out a handgun and demanded D.L.T.’s belongings, but that D.L.T. said Carson would have to shoot him, and the three rode away on bikes.
On Tuesday morning, Carson was at his desk in a study hall when D.L.T., who was not in that class, came into the room and the two briefly fought, according to other students. The victim grabbed his
chest and staggered out to the hallway, where he told a school staff member he’d been stabbed.
Carson was arrested almost immediately by a Kenosha police school resource officer. Carson told a detective about his ongoing “beef” with D.L.T. and his two friends and said he had begun carrying his folding knife because he expected they were going to attack him. Police recovered the knife from a trash can where Carson had discarded it.
Kenosha County District Attorney Michael Graveley said the charge of second-degree intentional homicide is appropriate when someone acts in what they believe is self-defense, but the actions are not reasonable under the circumstances. When applied to a juvenile, it requires prosecution originate in adult court. It carries a maximum penalty of 45 years, plus 20 years of extended supervision.
Carson will likely seek to have the case transferred to juvenile court, where the maximum term of confinement would be two years.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for May 12.