17-year-old charged with attempted murder after violent carjacking outside Sam's Club
A 17-year-old boy who investigators say severely beat a woman in her 70s with a broken tree branch before stealing her car will be tried as an adult on attempted murder and other charges.
Shakel McClain was charged Nov. 29 with attempted second-degree murder, armed carjacking and fleeing an officer. He was transferred Wednesday from the Juvenile Assessment Center to the Leon County Detention Facility.
On the night of Nov. 4, Tallahassee police were called to Sam’s Club on Dick Wilson Boulevard after an employee was found outside sitting on a bench bleeding from severe head injuries.
Officers said the woman seemed frail and that her grey hair “appeared red” from her head injury. She had a “blank stare” on her face and couldn’t respond to their questions. She was taken to Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare’s trauma center, where she underwent emergency surgery.
“(Doctors) informed officers that (the victim) sustained brain bleeding and severe head trauma,” the police report says. “(Her) skull was fractured in several locations around her head. Such skull injuries are consistent with repeated beating or stomping on the head.”
McClain had already fled the scene in the woman’s SUV. Several days later, officers spotted the vehicle near South Monroe Street and Orange Avenue and began a pursuit. McClain drove down a dirt road, let two passengers out and sped off, later ditching the car.
Police conducted a K9 track but couldn’t find the suspect. The two passengers, however, told police that an unknown person later identified as McClain picked them up and took them to the North Florida Fair.
Other witnesses identified McClain as the driver and the woman’s possible assailant and said he bragged about having a “splatt,” slang for a stolen car. Law enforcement later found him at a residence off South Monroe Street.
According to court records, McClain was first arrested at the age of 12 on a battery charge. He attended Second Chance School before he was sent to group foster care home in Panama City.
McClain was ordered held without bond during his first court appearance on Thursday.
Contact Jeff Burlew at jburlew@tallahassee.com or follow @JeffBurlew on Twitter.
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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: 17-year-old boy charged with attempted murder after violent carjacking outside Sam's Club
