Bensalem teen to be tried as adult in fatal shooting of 13-year-old 'best friend'

Joshua Cooper allegedly shot his “best friend” in his bathroom, then tried to clean up the evidence using bleach and towels before contacting an acquaintance on social media asking for help getting rid of the body.

But the attorney representing the Bensalem teenager accused of murder said the circumstances surrounding what happened on that Black Friday last year is not as cut-and-dry as authorities are portraying.

“It’s a complicated, evolving and ever-changing case when you have juveniles involved,” attorney Paul Lang said Monday after Cooper, 17, waived his preliminary hearing sending the case against him to Bucks County court.

Cooper, who is charged as an adult with homicide and related offenses, entered a not guilty plea. After the hearing Lang confirmed that he will be filing a motion to decertify the case to juvenile court “where it should have been in the first place.”

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The hearing was underway Monday with Bensalem Det. Ryan Kolb providing testimony when Lang asked the court for a break and a bucket for his client, who felt nauseous.

Bensalem District Judge Michael Gallagher called for a recess and Cooper was taken into a holding room.

After roughly 20 minutes, Lang asked to meet with prosecutors Kristi Hoover and Kristin McElroy.   Afterward, Lang announced his client wanted to waive his hearing. In exchange, the prosecution agreed to provide the defense with early discovery materials.

Throughout the brief hearing, Cooper turned his head toward his family members and supporters in the gallery, his feet constantly bouncing under the defense table.

A representative from the Network of Victim Assistance was in the courtroom, but it was not immediately clear if the person seated beside her knew the 13-year-old victim, who has only been identified as “M.C.”

Bensalem police have released few details about the circumstances of the shooting, which Cooper allegedly described as an accident, according to court documents.

Following the hearing, McElroy declined comment, as did the family of Cooper, who appeared dressed in street clothes, high-top sneakers, with tattooed forearms and fading blonde highlights.  His wrists and ankles were shackled.

Cooper, who turned 17 in January, also did not comment as he was led into the waiting constable SUV after the hearing. He has been incarcerated at the Bucks County Juvenile Detention Center in Doylestown Township since his arrest.

What allegedly happened at Top of the Ridge park?

Before the hearing was abruptly stopped, Bensalem police Cpl. Robert Schwarting had completed testifying that he and another officer responded to Cooper’s home in the Top of the Ridge mobile home park off Gibson Road around 4 p.m. on Nov. 25 after receiving a 911 call.

The caller claimed someone named Josh killed someone and had asked another person for help disposing of the body.

Court documents allege that the mother of an acquaintance of Cooper told her she received an Instagram video chat from Cooper alleging he killed someone, showed legs and feet covered in blood, then asked the girl for help.

Cooper told the girl that the shooting was an accident, according to charging documents.

Schwarting testified that the second officer knocked on the front door to Cooper’s trailer and he stood on the side when he saw someone wearing a black hoodie with green and blue hair running away from the trailer toward Gibson Road. The officer testified he did not see the person run out of the trailer.

When police entered the home they saw a girl with her pants around her ankles lying face down on the bathroom floor dead of an apparent gunshot, Schwarting testified. The officers also saw towels drenched in blood, cleaning supplies and the strong odor of bleach.

Kolb testified that Cooper was apprehended a short time later in a wooded area near Newport Mews Drive. The detective testified that he heard Cooper repeatedly claim the shooting was an accident, that his dad was going to kill him and he was going to spend the rest of his life in jail.

Kolb also testified that when he asked Cooper if the gun was somewhere in the woods, the teen told him it was in a safe at his home, which is where authorities found the firearm.

What did Joshua Cooper tell police after the shooting?

In a police interview with Cooper and his mother after he was taken into custody, the teen said he was cleaning out his father’s safe earlier that day and removed the firearms, according to charging documents.

Cooper said he was able to access the safe by "replacing the batteries his father had removed, which had made the combination lock inoperable," according to the affidavit.

Later in the day, the victim reportedly texted Cooper and she was dropped off at his home where the two watched a Netflix series, according to court documents.  Charging documents do not mention if an adult was in the home at the time.

At some point, the victim left the room to go to the bathroom, according to Cooper, but at that point the boy and his mom ended the police interview, according to court documents.

Kolb testified that the bathroom in the home had two doors, one leading to a hall and the other to the master bedroom.  He said a small hole was found in the wall near where the victim’s body was found, but there were no holes in either bathroom door.

A bullet was retrieved in the mobile home skirting of an adjacent trailer, Kolb testified. A shell casing was found in the master bedroom, he added.

An autopsy determined the victim died as a result of a single gunshot wound to her neck and thorax area.

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This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Bensalem teen headed to trial as adult in fatal shooting of 13-year-old friend