A Baltimore City grand jury indicted Tiffany Harrison, 37, and William Dredden, 40, on 33 total charges for their involvement in the October 27 shooting at Carver Vocational Technical High School that injured three students.
State’s attorney Ivan Bates said Harrison and Dredden conspired with their 15-year-old son to assault multiple students.
“It is absolutely mind-blowing to read the allegations in this indictment, where a child's guardians facilitated in settling a school-yard dispute with violence,” Bates said at a press conference Tuesday morning. “You almost have to look past the juvenile and look at the parents.”
First and second degree assault, possession of firearms and accessory to attempted murder are among the charges incurred by the two parents.
Video of the incident shows Harrison and Dredden striking the first student victim repeatedly with their fists, while their son pistol-whips him multiple times.
Dredden also “pushed one of the victims to the ground,” the indictment says.
Bates said he felt “sick and disheartened” after watching the video.
“If you have a child, you must be responsible for their actions,” he said. “If you choose to participate in a lot of unlawful activities with them, then you too will also be held accountable for these actions as well.”
While leaving the area of the first assault, the 15-year-old and a nearby student “simultaneously pull out hand guns and shoot multiple times at each other,” the indictment says.
Harrison and Dredden’s son shot the second student twice in the chest and leg, and hit another bystander in the lower back with a bullet. The second student shot the 15-year-old once in the abdomen.
Bates said two additional students face juvenile charges for possessing and firing a gun.
“If you're going to touch guns, or hold guns, and they're illegal handguns, people should expect to be held accountable,” he said. “Because of the nature of the juvenile system, we can't go any more in depth than that.”
Bates said parent support is key to reducing youth violence.
“Now more than ever in Baltimore, we need parents to be parents,” he said. “These two parents fell woefully short of their responsibility that day. We are battling to deal with juveniles. And we need parents to be part of the solution, not the problem.”
