FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Two teenagers will face adult charges in the fatal shooting of a South Florida bartender, police said Friday.
Gershon Woods, who turns 17 on Saturday, and Nathaniel Williams, 16, are being held without bond on charges of second-degree murder and carjacking. They appeared in court Friday morning online from a detention facility where they are being held without bond.
Nelson Vega, 39, was killed Sept. 13 when he drove his girlfriend home after finishing a shift at J.P. Mulligan’s sports bar in Pembroke Pines. Police said Woods and Williams had set out to steal a car to go joyriding.
Vega left his key in his Mercedes with the motor running while he walked his girlfriend to her door, the South Florida SunSentinel reported. As he returned to the car, one teen told police Vega came at them, so they each fired at him.
Police said Vega was shot in the chest and pelvis.
The grand jury is unable to meet because of the coronavirus pandemic, so all cases that may qualify as first-degree murder cases are being filed with second-degree charges, Broward County State Attorney’s Office spokeswoman Paula McMahon told the newspaper.
When proceedings resume, prosecutors expect to present the case to grand jurors to decide the appropriate charge, McMahon said.
“With the information they have now, prosecutors anticipate that they would seek life in prison … if the grand jury issues an indictment,” she said.
Attorneys for the pair were not listed in court records.
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