Judge Robert Morin found substantial probability Friday that Antonio Shaw stabbed and killed 17-year-old Ernest Hart. Shaw, 25, remains held while a grand jury investigates the case.
Around 9:30 p.m. on June 19, Hart was found in the 4600 block of Hillside Road Southeast suffering from a stab wound to the neck; he later died at the hospital and Shaw was arrested the following day.
Metropolitan Police Detective Norma Horne testified Friday at the preliminary hearing that an argument over food led to Hart’s death.
“[The argument] was in reference to some chicken at an impromptu cookout,” Horne said. “Some words were exchanged and the argument escalated from there.”
According to charging documents in the case, on the evening of June 19, Shaw and Hart argued and friends tried to keep them apart. A witness to the argument told police that the fight turned physical when Shaw said, “Nah shorty, s— about to get real,” and then hit Hart in the neck with a closed fist.
The witness told police that he did not see a weapon in Shaw’s hands at the time, but immediately saw blood gush from Hart’s neck.
“I had never seen so much blood,” Horne said the witness told police.
Horne also said that according to witnesses, after Hart was stabbed, Shaw stood there for a few moments and watched Hart bleed out before fleeing the area.
Shaw’s defense attorney, Jacqueline Cadman, argued that Hart was the initial aggressor.
According to court documents, a witness told police that at the start of the argument Shaw attempted to keep his distance from Hart, but Hart kept arguing and advancing on Shaw.
Horne told the court that police believe that at the time of the stabbing Hart had stopped advancing and had begun to turn around and leave when Shaw lunged and stabbed him in the neck.
Police are not aware of any “bad blood” between Hart and Shaw as the result of prior arguments, Horne said. In fact, Hart and Shaw were friends, and Shaw had visited Hart’s home a few days prior to the stabbing, Horne told the court.
When police arrested Shaw they found a folding knife on his person. Horne testified that a witness not listed in the arrest affidavit told police that Shaw had a “folding knife” at the time of Hart’s stabbing.
The case is scheduled for a felony status conference December 10.
