Staff photo / Ed Runyan Saun M. Peterson 20, appears in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court on Tuesday during his arraignment on murder and other charges in the April 15 killing of Amya Monserrat, 15. She was shot outside of Martha’s Boulevard Bar and Grille on Southern Boulevard in Youngstown. At right is his attorney, Michael Kivlighen.

YOUNGSTOWN — Bond remained at $750,000 Tuesday when Saun M. Peterson 21, made his first appearance in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court in the April 15 shooting death of Amya Monserrat, 15.

She was killed outside of Martha’s Boulevard Bar and Grille on Southern Boulevard.

Mahoning County Magistrate James Melone accepted Peterson’s not guilty plea to murder, felonious assault and involuntary manslaughter, each with three gun specifications, plus improperly handling firearms in a motor vehicle and obstructing official business.

One of the gun specifications accuses Peterson of a drive-by shooting.

Amya, a student at Valley Christian School on Southern Boulevard, was attending a party when she was shot, police said. She was a sophomore and head cheerleader at the school.

Youngstown police said Amya was not the intended target. She was “hit by a stray bullet,” according to Capt. Jason Simon of the Youngstown Police Department detective division.

Lt. Mohammad Awad of the detective division said the shooting involved “two groups of people shooting at each other.”

He said it started with “some type of conflict that had been brewing over the course of a couple of weeks.” At 10:36 p.m., the feuding parties “began shoot at each other” at the tavern, resulting in Amya being fatally wounded.

A second male, Danyo Sellers, 16, is charged in Mahoning County Juvenile Court with one count of murder and three counts of attempted murder.

Sellers was arraigned May 2 in juvenile court and is set for additional hearings in juvenile court Aug. 6 and Sept. 6. There, Judge Theresa Dellick is expected to hear evidence to determine whether there is probable cause that Sellers committed the offenses charged.

During Peterson’s arraignment in Youngstown Municipal Court, visiting Judge David Fuhry read from the criminal complaint in the case, which Fuhry said indicates Peterson was “the person driving the car when the shots were fired.”

During Tuesday’s hearing, Katherine Jones, assistant county prosecutor, told the magistrate that “detainers” on Peterson are on file in Jefferson County, Wooster and Trumbull County. A detainer is an order to hold someone in custody.

The Trumbull case is out of Girard Municipal Court, where a warrant for Peterson’s arrest was issued in April for failure to pay fines and costs in a 2021 misdemeanor case involving having weapons while intoxicated and resisting arrest out of Liberty Township. Peterson was living in the Cornersburg area at the time.

erunyan@vindy.com