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An Alabama man charged with attempted murder in a shooting that left two dead and another 12 injured has bonded out of jail, sparking outrage from community members who believe he should remain locked up.
The Oct. 4 shooting took place just after 11:30 p.m., following the Morehouse-Tuskegee Classic college football game in Montgomery, Alabama.
Montgomery Police Chief Jim Graboys said only one of the 14 victims was the intended target, adding there were several shooters.
“This started as the result of an individual, one of these 14 (injured or killed), who we believe was targeted, in which basically an exchange of gunfire erupted,” Graboys said. “When that exchange erupted, multiple people in the crowd pulled their own weapons and started discharging.”
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Javorick Whiting, 19, one of the several suspects, including juveniles, was arrested on Oct. 16 and charged with attempted murder in relation to the Oct. 4 incident.
After being taken into custody, a judge set bond at $60,000, which Whiting was able to post on Oct. 17 through a bail bond company, court records obtained by Fox News Digital show.
Following public outcry, the Montgomery County district attorney filed a motion to increase Whiting’s bond, writing that the current bond is “woefully inadequate.”
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“The current bond amount is woefully inadequate to protect the public from this dangerous and violent criminal,” the DA’s office wrote.
The DA’s office wrote that Whiting’s actions show he’s a “danger to the community” and should remain behind bars.
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Read the motion to increase bond here:
Republican Gov. Kay Ivey expressed her frustrations in a Facebook post.
“Today, we learn that one of the four suspects has been released back onto the streets,” Ivey wrote on Oct. 20. “This is exactly the legal loophole that I and many in the Legislature sought to close when I signed the Safe Alabama package. Next May, all Alabama voters will have a chance to end mandatory bail for those suspected of attempted murder by voting to expand Aniah’s Law. I will not forget today’s troubling news when casting my vote.”
Aniah’s Law was passed in 2019 in honor of Aniah Blanchard, who was murdered in 2019 by someone who was out on bond for violent offenses. The law allows judges and prosecutors to request and deny bail for offenses such as kidnapping, murder, rape and aggravated child abuse.
Lawmakers recently passed legislation which would add attempted murder to the list of eligible charges in Aniah’s Law.
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Graboys was also among those who advocated for an expansion to Aniah’s Law.
“We need assistance, both legislatively and in the judicial system, about what we’re going to do. I think Aniah’s Law has been a great law, but maybe it’s to be expanded,” he said, according to the Alabama Reflector. “Maybe people need to use the discretion that Aniah’s Law gives them to hold people for trial when they’ve been arrested for violent felonies.”
Read the full article here
