An Oahu grand jury Friday indicted a 16-year-old boy being tried as an adult for his alleged role in a May 21 shooting in Makaha that left a 17-year-old dead.
Branston Scott Anthony K. Medeiros entered a not-guilty plea Wednesday before District Judge Melanie May in connection with the death of Miguel Agoo Jr. in the parking lot at Makaha Beach.
The grand jury indicted Medeiros for second-degree murder and gun-related offenses including use of a firearm in the commission of a separate felony. The murder charge carries a penalty of life in prison with the possibility of parole.
“Gun violence is devastating families and traumatizing entire communities,” said Prosecuting Attorney Steve Alm in a statement. “As prosecutors we will do everything the law allows to promote public safety, even if that means charging juvenile offenders as adults. If you do an adult crime, you will serve adult time.”
Medeiros is being held in lieu of $750,000 bail.
Medeiros allegedly had a feud with the 17-year-old before confronting him while the victim drank with friends at Makaha Surfing Beach early on May 21.
After allegedly confronting Agoo and asking him if everything was cool, Medeiros returned, pulled out a black handgun and pointed it at Agoo’s head, according to state court records.
A partygoer tried to deescalate the standoff, but Medeiros allegedly opened fire before fleeing into a white Ford Focus. Medeiros and an accomplice allegedly continued shooting from the car before driving away.
Agoo was found bleeding with a gun in his hand, according to court documents.
Medeiros was arrested by police after staff at Kuakini Medical Center reported treating a teenager suffering from a gunshot wound.
On May 25, prosecutors charged Waylen K. Armstrong-Kea, 20, with second- degree murder, kidnapping, fourth-degree arson and two firearm offenses in the same fatal shooting.
He allegedly burned the Ford Focus near the end of Waianae Valley Road after the shooting.
Armstrong-Kea was indicted May 31. He is being held in lieu of $2 million bail.
Ten days after the shooting, at a community meeting to address crime in Leeward Oahu, Agoo’s father, Miguel Agoo Sr., urged police, county prosecutors and the City Council to do something about gun violence in his community.
“They making guns, they making ghost guns, these kids playing with automatic guns,” Agoo Sr. said May 31 at the Kamehameha Schools Community Learning Center in Maili. “One man is broken. … What if a kid goes into an elementary school and kills kids? We need everybody to pull together.”
