The 18-year-old suspect charged with first-degree murder in a shooting near the Mall in Columbia Saturday that killed one teen and left another in critical condition was ordered held without bail at the Howard County Detention Center during a Monday morning hearing.
Emmetson Zeah, of Columbia, is charged with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder and other related charges in connection to a Saturday shooting that killed a 16-year-old and left a 15-year-old in critical condition.
Zeah is a student at Wilde Lake High School in Columbia, attending as part of the district’s “Passages Program,” which provides “enhanced services” for students to help them transition back to a comprehensive school. Michael Robertson, 16, of Columbia, who was pronounced dead at the shooting scene Saturday, was also a Wilde Lake High student, according to a spokesperson for Howard County Public Schools.
During a bail review hearing Monday in Howard County Circuit Court, Judge Allison Sayers said there was clear and convincing evidence that Zeah is a danger to the public and ordered that he be held without bail.
Zeah’s attorney Henry Roland Barnes had asked that Zeah be granted 24-hour home detention so that he could attend school virtually, but Natasha M. Byus, senior assistant state’s attorney in Howard County, argued that because Zeah was already released on a $50,000 bond with an ankle monitor related to charges in another case, he had already been given “the grace of the court.”
Police found a gun and the clothes Zeah was allegedly wearing during the Saturday shooting in his home, according to a police department news release. A motive remains unclear, but detectives believe it was targeted, police said.
Zeah is also charged with attempted first-degree murder in connection with a Feb. 14 shooting, according to a post on the social media platform X by Howard County Police. He allegedly fired several shots that did not hit anyone in the 10200 block of Twin Rivers Road in Columbia, police said. According to online court documents, Zeah was charged in December with first- and second-degree attempted murder, assault, burglary, home invasions and other charges. Bond was posted at $50,000, and Zeah was given private home detention as a pre-trial agreement.
A notice was filed Friday — one day prior to the double shooting — that Zeah allegedly violated the pre-trial home detention agreement, according to court records.
Zeah is next scheduled to appear in court for a preliminary hearing related to the Saturday fatal shooting on March 18.
This story will be updated.
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