MANSFIELD — The Richland County Prosecutor’s Office will seek to try a 16-year-old Ontario juvenile on murder charges in adult court.
Brodie Gibson was arraigned on seven charges Wednesday morning before Richland County Juvenile Court Judge Steve McKinley, according to court administrator Brian Bumpus.
The charges include aggravated murder, murder, aggravated burglary, felonious assault and trespass.
The prosecutor’s office also filed a motion to have the case bound over to adult court.
Under Ohio Revised Code 2152.12, a murder or attempted murder case involving a suspect 16 or 17 years old must be bound over to adult court if the juvenile court judge finds “there is probable cause to believe that the child committed the act charged.”
A pretrial hearing will likely be scheduled within 30 days, according to Bumpus.
Gibson remained in the juvenile detention center Wednesday morning.
According to the state law, “After a complaint has been filed alleging that a child is a delinquent child for committing one or more acts that would be an offense if committed by an adult, if any of those acts would be aggravated murder, murder, attempted aggravated murder, or attempted murder if committed by an adult, the juvenile court at a hearing shall transfer the case if either of the following applies:
(i) The child was sixteen or seventeen years of age at the time of the act charged that would be aggravated murder, murder, attempted aggravated murder, or attempted murder and there is probable cause to believe that the child committed the act charged.”
(Below are the charges filed against Brodie Gibson in Richland County Juvenile Court.)
Gibson is accused in the fatal stabbing early Tuesday morning of 17-year-old Elias Uzunoff of Mansfield during a fight at 12:29 a.m. at a residence at 1040 Lexington-Ontario Road.
He was arrested at the scene by the Richland County Sheriff’s Office, according to Maj. Jim Sweat, RCSO chief deputy.
“Following consultation with the Richland County Prosecutor’s Office, Gibson was charged with murder and taken to the Richland County Juvenile Detention Center,” Sweat said Tuesday.
An autopsy will be performed in Montgomery County for the victim, who was stabbed multiple times, according to Bob Ball, chief investigator for the Richland County Coroner’s Office.
Deputies, responding to the stabbing report, found Uzunoff suffering from multiple stab wounds, “laying on his back (outside) and appeared pale and unresponsive.”
First responders initiated life-saving measures before the Springfield Township Fire Department transported the victim to OhioHealth Mansfield Hospital, where he died from his injuries, according to Sweat.
According to witnesses, the dispute between Gibson and Uzunoff involved a 15-year-old girl. Gibson was reportedly her ex-boyfriend and Uzunoff was her current boyfriend.
According to deputies, Uzunoff was at the house with the teenage girl when Gibson arrived. The suspect, who had been banging on the back door seeking to be allowed in, allegedly then entered the house through the basement and a fight ensued.
The mother of the 15-year-old girl, who apparently didn’t know Uzunoff was visiting, told deputies she attempted to break up the fight.
The knife used in the incident had not been found as of Wednesday morning.
