Teenager charged with murder during alleged gun sale waives hearing

A 16-year-old Maryland boy accused of killing 18-year-old Eriq Morrison Jr. in February 2023 has waived his preliminary hearing.

Jaleer Fletcher, of Elkton, has had charges, including third-degree murder, robbery and conspiracy with co-defendant Lamonte Dale, dropped pending a future out-of-court hearing, according to Assistant District Attorney Matthew Krouse.

In return, the charges of premeditated and grossly negligent murder and conspiracy to commit premeditated murder were dropped.

Dale, 18, of Chester, signed a similar waiver after his arrest in March, also contingent on a later guilty plea. Fletcher was arrested in June.

According to an affidavit from Chester Detective Brian Pot and Delaware County Detective William Murphy regarding the probable cause for Fletcher's arrest:

On February 17, 2023, shortly before 1 p.m., police were called to the first block of East 17th Street and found Morrison lying on the ground next to a red Honda with a gunshot wound to his upper body.

The Honda had crashed into numerous parked cars and police found a 9mm cartridge case in a nearby driveway. Morrison's cellphone was recovered from the car.

An autopsy later confirmed that Morrison's death was caused by a gunshot wound to the right side of his back. The incident was ruled a homicide.

Police spoke to a witness who said they drove to Chester with Morrison in the Honda that day. When they reached the first block of East 17th, they noticed two men in the street, according to the witness.

Morrison stopped the car and the two men approached the car, one on the driver's side and the other on the passenger side.

The witness said the man in the passenger side opened the back door, pointed a gun at her, then ordered her to get out of the car. Morrison tried to drive away and the witness heard a single gunshot.

Investigators extracted a text message from Morrison's phone indicating that he met with an individual that day to purchase a handgun. The original meeting point in the 100 block of East 18th Street was moved to East 17th Street.

Morrison's last two text messages came around 12:45 p.m., one of which read: “We're here.”

Investigators determined that the number Morrison used to communicate belonged to Fletcher.

Investigators also reviewed surveillance camera footage that showed the two men walking from the 100 block of East 18th Street to the first block of East 17th Street before the shooting occurred at 12:49 p.m.

Immediately after the shooting, the two men could be seen running through the backyard of a residence on East 17th Street, one carrying an AR-style rifle while the other appeared to be trying to stuff a handgun into his pants.

The two men are then seen jumping over a fence onto Upland Street and then running to the back of a house in the 100 block of East 18th Street.

Detectives searched the backyard where the suspects were walking and found the AR with an obscured serial number and a 9mm pistol, which was later matched during forensic testing to the cartridge case found at the crime scene.

Additional review of surveillance video revealed that Dale was holding the long gun that day and that Fletcher was using his phone when Morrison was texting as the two made their way to the crime scene.

The official arraignment of Fletcher, who is represented by his defense attorney Shawn Page, is scheduled for October 2.

Dale, represented by attorney Timothy Tarpey, has already been arraigned and a pretrial hearing is scheduled for September 23 before Common Pleas Court Judge Anthony Scanlon. Krouse is prosecuting in both cases.