Hoping to see leniency in this week’s sentencing, activists gathered on the steps of the County Courthouse Tuesday morning to call for “Justice for AJ.”

“We’re just trying to appeal to the judge to be lenient in sentencing,” said Kalimah Cunningham, Angelo “AJ” Ford’s godmother. “Remember, he was a child, he was 15 years old. “We’ve all done some things when we were 15 that we wouldn’t necessarily do as an adult.”

Ford, now 18, lived on the first block of High Street in Sharon Hill. sentenced in July An indictment has been filed on attempted murder and related charges in the August 2021 shooting, which set off a chain of events that resulted in the death of 8-year-old Fanta Bility. Ford was found guilty following a trial before Common Pleas Court Judge G. Michael Green.

Activists argued that Ford faced excessive sentencing and that prosecutors were exaggerating his role in the deadly shooting.

Background of the case

According to an affidavit of probable cause for Ford’s arrest written by Delaware County Detective Timothy Deery and Sharon Hill Detective Vincent Port:

On August 27, 2021, at approximately 8:45 p.m., a verbal argument broke out between a group of men leaving the Academy Park High School football game.

Investigators spoke with an eyewitness who said Ford displayed the firearm inside his waistband while threatening others.

Another witness told detectives that they spoke with 21-year-old Hasein Strand after the shooting and that he stated that there had been tension at the football stadium between Ford and Strand’s friends.

Port told the grand jury investigating the case that Ford was affiliated with a gang in Darby Township and Collingdale, while Strand was affiliated with another gang known as the Money-Making Legends that operated in Collingdale. The two groups are enemies of each other.

Strand allegedly told a witness that Ford showed Strand his gun as he left the stadium, so he took his brothers to his car, retrieved his own firearm, and then returned to Ford in the 900 block of Coates Street. Strand told the witness that Ford then shot at Strand, who returned fire.

Ford fired toward Ridley Boulevard, and Strand fired back at Ford in the direction of the football field. The grand jury concluded that Ford fired five shots from a .45-caliber gun and Strand fired two shots from a 9 mm gun.

One of Strand’s bullets struck the side of 13-year-old Hafize Sharif’s torso at Kenny Boulevard and Coates Street, about 50 yards west of where three Sharon Hill police officers were overseeing the exit of the stadium.

Immediately after Ford and Strand fired, three uniformed officers fired their weapons at a Chevy Impala heading toward Coates Street.

Those officers — Devon Smith, Sean Patrick Dolan and Brian James Devaney — fired a total of 25 shots toward the vehicle, some of which went toward pedestrians behind the car. Fanta Bility and her older sister, Mamasu, were among the four people shot by police.

None of the people inside the Chevy who police believe shot at them were hit by bullets.

In the presentation, it was stated that while Fanta was shot in the back with a single bullet exiting his chest, Mamasu and Fanta Bility ran towards the stadium and returned after the officers heard the gunshots. Mamasu suffered a grazing wound to her ankle. Fanta later died at the hospital despite life-saving efforts by Sharon Hill Police Officer John Scanlon.

Smith, Dolan and Devaney each Pleaded guilty in November 2022 one count of involuntary manslaughter and 10 counts of reckless endangerment. each of them Sentenced to five years probation with 11 months house arrest in May 2023.

Strand, of the 500 block of Felton Street in Collingdale, was sentenced to three to six years in prison in January 2022 after pleading guilty to aggravated assault and firearm possession charges.

Although neither Strand nor Ford fired the fatal shot initially charged with first-degree murder According to the legal theory of “conveyed intent” in Bility’s death. District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer later said that while the investigation was ongoing, the charge was not substantiated by the evidence and murder charges against both defendants were withdrawn.

Arguments at the hearing

First Deputy District Attorney Tanner Rouse and Assistant District Attorney Laurie Moore, who recused himself because of Bility’s death, used the conveyed intent theory for Sherif during Ford’s trial.

“Mr. The Sheriff was impressed by Mr. Strand,” Rouse said. “However, he was shot and shot only by Mr. Strand because Mr. Ford shot first and that… set off not only that but many other tragic dominoes, including the shooting of Hafiz Sharif. “Our position was that by shooting and setting this in motion, (Ford) took responsibility for at least some of the events that occurred thereafter.”

Defense attorney Mary Elizabeth Welch made essentially two arguments: that there was no evidence that Ford fired in the direction of anyone else, and that if he did, it was in self-defense.

He said Ford was alone that night and a group of four or five men harassed him. He said there was no evidence that he was the attacker, but there was evidence that Strand waited for the other group to leave before heading home in the same direction before running towards him with the gun.

“Under these circumstances, the law does not require a person to wait to be shot to defend himself because then he could die, which is the exact opposite of self-defense,” Welch said.

Rouse said Ford not only waited for the other group to leave, but followed them after pointing a gun at them. Rouse stated that, as Strand admitted in his defense, the evidence and testimony showed that Strand ran to his car to get his gun.

But he argued that Strand only did this in response to Ford, and that from statements given during the grand jury investigation and from previous statements, it was determined that Ford was the only person who had trouble with the other group that night.

“There’s no doubt that AJ Ford, who was the only person credited with fighting them that night and shooting at them that night, did the first shooting,” Rouse said.

guilty verdict

Before announcing the decision on July 10, Green made two findings: That Ford fired a firearm on the night of August 27, 2021, and that the shooting was not justified.

Ford was convicted of two counts of attempted murder for shooting at Khalil Pierce, one of Strand’s friends, as well as aggravated assault and reckless endangerment charges and four weapons charges for Strand and Pierce.

Ford was also found guilty of reckless endangerment regarding the Sheriff, but not guilty of attempted murder or aggravated assault for that victim, and not guilty of attempted murder, aggravated assault and reckless endangerment charges for two others along with Strand that night.

Activist arguments

Keith Collins, pastor of Overcomer Church in Trainer, argued Tuesday that Ford is just another victim in the long history of the dehumanization of Black people in America.

“AJ Ford did not kill Fanta, AJ Ford did not instigate this tragic event, and now he is about to face a very difficult sentence,” Collins said. on parole in his own case, after pleading guilty this year to stealing nearly $54,500 from his wards from court-appointed guardians.

“We did not see any evidence that he (Ford) actually shot anyone, and he certainly did not shoot at Fanta Bility or the police officers,” Collins said. “Let’s try this young man, let’s punish this young man according to what he did, let’s punish him accordingly, but not for killing or attempting to kill three or four people, because we believe this is an excessive punishment.”

Cunningham said Ford, who helped coach basketball, was a good young man with family support and had improved since his incarceration, earning his general equivalency diploma.

“Even though they dropped the murder charges, they act as if if AJ and another young man a block and a half away hadn’t been involved in that fight then (Fanta Bility’s death) wouldn’t have happened, which means it’s not true because they (the police) are trained “They know not to draw their weapons towards the crowd,” he said. “One of them has nothing to do with the other, but they bring them together and that’s why they victimize this child. Someone has to pay for this, why not him?”

Jackson Kusiak of the Council on Human Relations said an expert on teenage brain development was not allowed to testify at the hearing and the prosecution refused to treat Ford as a child despite his young age, rejecting Ford’s decertification hearing to transfer the case to juvenile court.

“Even though that’s not the case, even though that’s not the facts, they still act as if Fanta Bility is responsible for her murder, there’s nothing to prove it, and… they refuse to treat her for what she is, which is also a crime. My child,” Kusiak said. “He was 15 when this happened.

“He should be treated like a child and the court should be tolerant and courageous when considering sentencing, knowing that everyone has the chance to change throughout their life and not just throw it away. “He puts his life away for so long that he doesn’t have the opportunity to come home and show everyone how much he’s changed.”

DA’s response

“Today, a handful of pro-crime ‘activists’ from Philadelphia spread lies and misinformation about a defendant convicted of attempted murder and aggravated assault in Delaware County,” Stollsteimer said in a statement. he said. “Serious people shouldn’t pay any attention to these.”

A person familiar with the case said no experts on teenage brain development were presented by the defense, only a report written by an attorney. The District Attorney’s Office successfully objected to the introduction of this report into evidence, but the parties said they agreed that a 15-year-old’s brain is different from an adult’s brain and moved on.

Ford also never sought decertification and opted for a trial rather than a jury trial, people with knowledge of the case said. Both sides presented evidence they deemed important and said this was the conclusion.

In his closing speech at the hearing, Rouse said: Ford escaped from juvenile detention center He has been waiting to be tried for nearly a year. While Cunningham said it was because he was a frightened child, Rouse said Ford threatened Strand’s younger brother as he ran away, then posted a photo on social media of himself extending his middle finger at the county courthouse and another image of a bullet. Strand’s name is written on it.

Ford, who remains in custody at the county jail in Concord, has been charged in at least three other cases since the shooting, all related to incidents that allegedly occurred at the jail.

These include charges that he kept a homemade knife in his cell and risked mischief and aggravated assault for allegedly setting toilet paper on fire in his cell and then fighting with corrections officers and attacking another inmate.

Ford waived preliminary hearings on other cases and will hold a hearing on those cases before Green Thursday. He is expected to enter a plea in these cases at that time and be sentenced on all charges on Friday.