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YOUNGSTOWN -- The juvenile who was arrested in the April 15 shooting death of a Valley Christian School student was in Mahoning County Juvenile Court on Tuesday for a pretrial hearing.
Danyo Sellers, 16, is charged with one count of murder and three counts of attempted murder in the shooting death of Amya Monserrat, who was attending a party at Martha's Boulevard Bar and Grille on Southern Boulevard.
Sellers was represented by attorney Anthony Meranto, who received evidence from prosecutors in the case. Another hearing will be set for Aug. 7 with attorneys holding a teleconference with Judge Theresa Dellick.
A probable cause hearing for Sellers is set for 9 a.m. Sept. 6. It is at that hearing where attorneys will probably argue that the teen should be tried in adult court.
Youngstown detectives arrested Sellers on April 22 on warrants after receiving information and evidence at the crime scene and "supporters from the community, " according to a news release.
The juvenile was taken into custody, questioned, and is incarcerated at the county's Juvenile Justice Center, detective Capt. Jason Simon said.
Amya was killed by the gunfire outside of Martha's Boulevard Bar and Grille, while she was attending a party, police said. Amya, 15, was a sophomore and head cheerleader at the school.
Police said she was not the intended target of the gunfire. She was "hit by a stray bullet," according to Simon.
Lt. Mohammad Awad of the detective division had said previously the shooting involved "two groups of people shooting at each other. We don't know how many shooters were involved in each group, but there were two parties to this."
He said the incident that led to the gunfire did not involve a traditional sort of fistfight. "But there was some type of conflict that has been brewing over the course of a couple of weeks," he said. The people who were shooting at each other were involved in the conflict, he said.
The parties "shot back and forth at that party, location, restaurant, whatever you want to call that, and about 10:36 p.m., they came back and began shooting at each other," Awad said