Emmanuel Simmonds, 17, of Gaithersburg, was sentenced to 35 years in prison and five years of supervised probation following his release after pleading guilty to the shooting death of Tenneson Vaughn Leslie, Jr., 18, of Greenbelt.
Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Marybeth Ayres recommended that Simmonds be admitted to the Patuxent Youthful Offenders program to serve his sentence.
He pled guilty on Dec. 28, 2023 to first-degree murder and use of a firearm in commission of a felony.
Simmonds, who was arrested at home, was a 16 at the time of the shooting but was charged as an adult.
According to court documents, two groups of males who did not know each other were at the Wheaton Metro Station May 18, 2023 when they became involved in an altercation on the escalator.
Simmonds produced a firearm and shot Leslie in the back of the head as Leslie, and the others with him, ran away from Simmonds and his group, according to court documents.
When Montgomery County Police officers arrived, they found Leslie unresponsive near the bottom of the escalator. He was transported to the hospital where he eventually died.
The incident was captured on surveillance video.
According to court documents, Simmonds was being investigated for other crimes, including robbery and sexual assault.
