‘Very brazen’: Boy, 17, held without bond in connection with Westfield Wheaton shooting  

Gun was jammed when found, according to state’s attorney’s office

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August 3, 2026 4:56 p.m.

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A judge in Montgomery County District Court in Rockville on Monday ordered a 17-year-old boy from Silver Spring to be held without bond in a juvenile facility for his alleged involvement in a shooting Friday at Westfield Wheaton mall that injured a 13-year-old boy.   

Shawn Michael, an attorney with the State’s Attorney’s Office, called the incident a “very brazen shooting” in court on Monday, and asked District Court Judge Rand Gelber to hold the teenager without bond in an adult facility.  

The teen is facing charges of attempted second-degree murder, first-degree assault, use of a firearm in the commission of a violent felony, carrying a loaded handgun on his person and possession of a firearm by a minor, Montgomery County police said in a news release on Saturday. He is being charged as an adult. 

Bethesda Today does not publish the names of minors charged with crimes. 

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In court Monday, Meghan Brennan, a supervising attorney in the Montgomery County Public Defender’s Office who is representing the teen, asked Gelber to hold the boy in a juvenile facility. Brennan noted recent legislative changes that prevent juveniles from being detained in adult facilities.  

The teen’s parents, who were at the bond hearing on Monday, declined to talk with reporters. The shooting occurred just before 6 p.m. in the mall at 11160 Veirs Mills Road, near a children’s play area and Cinnabon shop, according to police. Dispatchers at the county’s Emergency Communications Center received more than 20 calls reporting that a person wearing all black clothing “was shooting at people.”  

Responding officers located the suspected shooter lying on the floor outside the entrance to Dick’s Sporting Goods, according to police. An armed security guard allegedly stopped the teen as he ran away from the scene of the shooting. 

According to police, the security guard allegedly witnessed the teen shooter with a handgun and “ordered him to the ground.” The security guard then detained the teen until officers arrived. 

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When officers took the teen into custody, they recovered a black 9 mm handgun from him, according to police. 

Michael said in court Monday that the gun was found jammed, and without the jam, more bullets may have been fired.  

Other responding officers searched the mall and found a 13-year-old boy with a gunshot wound to his ankle, police said. 

Police applied a tourniquet to the boy, according to first responder radio transmissions, and he was transported by Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service crews to Children’s National in Washington, D.C. 

Investigators reviewing surveillance footage from the mall determined that the shooting occurred around 5:58 p.m. as a group of teens walked past the alleged shooter, who was seated at a table near Cinnabon, police said. As they passed by, the teen stood up and fired at the group. He then fled the scene toward Dick’s Sporting Goods. 

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After the shooting, county police held a press conference outside of the mall. Captain David Smith, Commander of the county’s 4th District in Wheaton, told reporters that the incident was isolated and the 13-year-old boy was in stable condition. 

Bethesda Today’s Elia Griffin contributed to this report 

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Originally published at Bethesdamagazine