LEGISLATION WOULD REQUIRE POLICE TO FILE PETITION IN DEADLY CHILD CRIMES

Lawmakers in Annapolis heard testimony Wednesday on the proposed Nykayla Strawder Memorial Act.  The measure is named for the 15-year-old Baltimore girl who was shot and killed by a nine-year-old boy who accessed his grandmother’s gun.  The measure requires police to file a “child in need of supervision” petition when someone under the age of ten commits an act that results in someone’s death. Under Maryland law a child under the age of ten cannot be charged with a crime. The 54-year-old grandmother of the child in the Strawder shooting faces charges of reckless endangerment and failure to secure a firearm with an unsupervised minor.