Then-15-year-old who fatally shot another 15-year-old gets probation. How many youths kill?

Shawna Brady did not let her late son TréVon Dickson go to many funerals over the years even though friends, classmates and people he played youth sports with around Columbus kept getting shot and killed.

That includes the funeral of TréVon’s friend, 14-year-old Jaykwon Sharp, who was fatally shot in 2019 by then-13-year-old Juano Peyton as a result of a fight over a cellphone, Franklin County prosecutors say.

When she found out her 15-year-old son got a gun from a relative to protect them, Brady, a single mom who works two jobs, said she was alarmed.

“He said, 'Mom, times is getting hard out here,'” Brady said. “He said, ‘I can set (my 6-year-old nephew) on the corner of Livingston and he can bring me back four guns.' I was shocked … so I understood.”

Related article:Columbus teen charged with murder after 15-year-old dies days after NE Side shooting

And Brady said she doesn’t regret allowing TréVon to keep the gun. Because on April 20, 2021, Columbus police homicide detectives say 15-year-old Nasir Ndiaye shot and killed TréVon outside their East Side apartment. Had TréVon not shot back, striking Ndiaye in one of his legs, Brady said authorities may have never identified Ndiaye as the killer.

As part of a plea deal with prosecutors, Ndiaye, now 17, pleaded guilty in Franklin County Common Pleas Court Juvenile Division on Dec. 8 to involuntary manslaughter while in the commission of a misdemeanor crime.

County Juvenile Judge James Brown on Thursday sentenced Ndiaye to community control with the county Juvenile Community Enrichment Services. Ndiaye will create a success plan with goals and services and complete his probation when JCES is satisfied. But JCES cannot extend his probation past his 21st birthday.

Brown also ordered that if Ndiaye misbehaves and doesn't successfully complete his probation he will face three years in adult prison. He was in juvenile detention for more than 420 days after his arrest.

Ndiaye says he shot in self-defense after Dickson shot first — an account Franklin County prosecutors dispute.

Ndiaye's defense attorney, Frederick Benton, said in court Thursday that this incident was a tragedy, but both teens fired guns and it could have easily been Ndiaye who died and Dickson who lived.

Dickson was in eighth grade and had only been 15 for three months when he died. Ndiaye was a freshman in high school.

In an interview with The Dispatch on Wednesday on the eve of Ndiaye’s sentencing, Brady said she won’t ever forgive Ndiaye.

“He took my baby for no reason,” she said.

Shooting stemmed from drug deal, prosecutors say

Franklin County Assistant Prosecutor Pete Chimbids said during the sentencing hearing that, on a school day, Ndiaye woke up around 3 p.m. and drove to Dickson's home with his older brother and two others to sell Dickson a half ounce of marijuana. Ndiaye told authorities Dickson pulled out his gun and said "this me," indicating he would be taking the drugs, and then Dickson shot first, Chimbids said.

"We have long disputed this allegation of self-defense," Chimbids said. "It boggles the mind to think Tré would decide to rob somebody in broad daylight where everyone would know him."

Chimbids said there were witnesses on both sides and issues with accounts on both sides.

In defense of Ndiaye, Benton railed against the cycle of gun violence in the community and said two children should never have been engaging in a drug deal and in possession of guns.

"We've got to get away from the violent videos, the music and the thought that somehow having a firearm makes you a man because it does not. That has to change," Benton said. "And if that doesn't change, we will be back in this court over and over and over again."

Benton said that while Ndiaye has been out on bond working at Wendy's, an individual who knew Dickson threatened Ndiaye with a gun.

"We can't accept that as being a remedy or resolution because it then just triggers yet that one additional step of violence that we cannot afford within our community," Benton said.

Ndiaye, mostly expressionless throughout, wore a blue suit and sat between his parents in court. Near the end of the court proceedings, Ndiaye, with his hand on his heart, turned to Dickson's family in the courtroom gallery and apologized.

"I wish things didn’t turn out the way they did," Ndiaye said as he got a bit choked up. "I only drew my gun in self-defense to protect myself and everyone I was with ... I'm truly sorry for the loss of your son."

Related:14-year-old boy sought by Columbus police in New Year's Eve shooting of 15-year-old girl

How many juveniles in Franklin County kill?

Though Brady doesn't regret allowing TréVon to keep the gun he shot back with, she said she wishes they lived in a Columbus where he didn’t have to carry a gun in the first place.

The Dispatch tracks homicides in Columbus and Franklin County using police media releases and public records. In an effort to determine how many juveniles kill each other or other people, the newspaper reviewed its data.

From 2018 through Tuesday, at least 56 teens age 17 or younger have been charged in a homicide case in Franklin County. The youngest youth charged during that time was 13 years old.

The vast majority of the killings were shootings, reflecting a rising rate of gun violence in the Columbus area in recent years and across the nation.

In at least 20 cases charged in Franklin County since 2018, teens killed other teens or children.  In February 2020, for example, police charged a 13-year-old and a 14-year-old with fatally shooting a 12-year-old.

At least one case last year involved a 14-year-old charged with fatally stabbing another 14-year-old.

Juvenile homicide cases in Franklin County have risen in recent years along with the overall number of homicides, Dispatch data shows.

Brady, who is active with the local group Mothers of Murdered Columbus Children, said the reasons behind these killings are often senseless.

Franklin County judge decided to keep case in juvenile court

Ndiaye’s case is somewhat unique because Brown decided not to bind the case over to the court’s general division, or adult court, where Ndiaye would be tried as an adult.

Most juveniles like Ndiaye who are charged with delinquency murder or similar charges in Franklin County are bound over to adult court. Judges are more likely to keep younger offenders in juvenile court.

Brady told The Dispatch that she was frustrated that Ndiaye wasn’t bound over to adult court.

“Even though you were 15, you acted like an adult and you took my son's life. So I feel like you should be penalized like an adult,” Brady said.

Family speaks out at sentencing of teen's shooter

During the sentencing hearing, a victim witness advocate with the Franklin County Prosecutor’s office read some of the many letters Brady solicited from friends, family and coaches to write about TréVon, who sometimes went by Tré or Spazz.

The letter writers described TréVon as outgoing, funny, athletic, a mentor and a loving uncle.

Brady, crying, was too emotional to speak in court. An employee of the Ohio State University Stress Trauma And Resilience (STAR) Center stood with Brady and read Brady's statement.

Brady, through the STAR advocate, said her son participated in track, basketball and boxing and especially loved to play football, where he was a leader on the field and off. She said Ndiaye is lying and that he murdered her son out of jealousy.

“(Ndiaye) still gets to hug his parents,” Brady told The Dispatch Wednesday. “I don't get to see a prom, a homecoming, a graduation, college ... I don’t get to see none of that.”

While the judge announced his sentence of probation for Ndiaye, Brady and other family members left the courtroom.

Judge Brown said during the sentencing that he was presented with a "no-win situation."

Ndiaye and his family left the courtroom immediately after the sentencing hearing, and Benton declined to comment to The Dispatch.

Dispatch Staff Writer Bethany Bruner contributed to this report.

jlaird@dispatch.com

@LairdWrites

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Sentencing for 15-year-old Columbus teen who shot another 15-year-old