Judge orders mental health evaluation for teen charged in Heritage High School shooting

A judge on Wednesday ordered a mental health examination of the Newport News teenager charged in last month’s shooting at Heritage High School.

Juvenile and Domestic Relations Judge Shawn W. Overbey granted a request from the Newport News Public Defender’s Office asking that the 15-year-old boy be evaluated by a clinical psychologist before criminal charges can proceed in the wounding of two fellow students Sept. 20.

“We move for a competency evaluation,” Assistant Public Defender Alice Peters said at the hearing. “He had one in the past, but it’s been quite some time ... These are much more serious charges, and I’m not sure he appreciates or understands them.”

The lead prosecutor, Newport News Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Travis White, did not object.

Overbey appointed the same psychologist who evaluated the teen last year “to make an assessment and provide a report to the court.”

For a case to go to trial, a defendant must be legally “competent” — able to understand the proceedings and assist in his own defense. If a defendant is deemed incompetent, the case can’t go forward unless the defendant is restored to competency through mental health treatment.

That’s separate from an examination into whether a defendant was sane at the time of the offense — an evaluation the teen’s lawyers did not request Wednesday.

Overbey also ordered the 15-year-old — wearing dark green garb from the Newport News juvenile detention center — to remain in custody.

The teen is charged with two counts of aggravated malicious wounding — each punishable by up to life in prison — in the shooting at the high school that set off lockdowns and sent students scrambling for safety.

One victim, a 17-year-old boy, was shot multiple times — with one round striking him behind the ear and lodging in his jaw, and others hitting him in the leg and finger. He is being treated at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital, and is expected to recover.

A second victim, a 17-year-old girl, was shot in the left shin. She was treated at Riverside Regional Medical Center and released.

The shooting, in the hallway outside the cafeteria, was captured on Heritage High School’s surveillance system, with court documents saying the 15-year-old could be seen pulling his back pack to the front of his body, then reaching into it just before the shooting.

Court documents say the teen opened fire during an apparent altercation, and was later seen dumping his gun into a trash can as he fled the school through a gymnasium door.

At the time of the shooting, court records say, the teen was wearing an electronic ankle monitor — a GPS tracking device issued by Newport News Juvenile Services in a prior case.

Newport News police confirmed the teenager was also charged with shooting another juvenile on 34th Street near Orcutt Avenue on July 6, 2020. He was 14 at the time.

Three charges in that case — malicious wounding, using a firearm in a felony and underage possession of a firearm — are still pending in the Newport News juvenile court.

While the teenager pleaded guilty to the 2020 charges seven months ago, sources said, the case still awaits a final disposition. It wasn’t immediately clear why the teen was released from custody with the charges still pending — allowing him to enroll at Heritage this school year.

Overbey allowed a Daily Press reporter into Wednesday’s hearing on the Heritage shooting, but barred the reporter from the separate disposition and sentencing hearing on the 2020 shooting case.

But it was clear that the disposition hearing did not go forward Wednesday, given that the hearing ended only a few minutes after it began.

A new date for that hearing couldn’t be immediately determined.

Juvenile court hearings in Virginia are presumed open if the child is at least 14 and the offense would be a felony if committed by an adult. Judges can make exceptions to that presumption for “good cause shown.”

The Daily Press has not named the teenager because he is being charged as a juvenile in the 2020 shooting, and because prosecutors have not announced whether they will charge him as an adult or minor in the Heritage shooting.

Aside from the main malicious wounding charges, the 15-year-old faces nine gun charges in the Heritage case.

That includes seven felonies — two counts of using a firearm in a felony; and one count each of possession of a firearm as a convicted felon; possession of a firearm on school property; discharging a firearm on school property; discharging a firearm in an occupied building; and felony reckless handling.

It also includes two misdemeanors: Underage possession of a firearm and carrying a concealed handgun without a permit.

Ovebey set a date of Dec. 8 to check the status of the teen’s competency evaluation.

Peter Dujardin, 757-247-4749, pdujardin@dailypress.com