Man Convicted In Fatal Shooting Of Columbia Man

COLUMBIA, MD — A Howard County jury has found Kennard Mekhi White guilty on all counts in connection to the December 2023 shooting that killed 18-year-old Jeremiah Isaiah Darden and wounded another man in Columbia.

White was convicted of charges including first-degree murder, attempted murder and weapons offenses stemming from the Dec. 17, 2023, shooting.

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Darden and three friends were in the stairwell of an apartment building on Woodpark Lane when multiple gunshots were fired toward the group. Darden and a second victim, a 20-year-old Columbia man, were taken to the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center. Darden died from his injuries. The second victim survived and was later released from the hospital. The two other men in the stairwell were not struck, according to prosecutors.

Evidence presented at trial showed that White had been attempting to purchase a firearm from an individual who lived in the same apartment building. The victims had no known connection to White and were not the intended targets of the shooting.

Investigators linked White to the shooting through surveillance video, cell phone and electronic records, forensic evidence recovered from a vehicle associated with the shooting and firearm evidence. Police later recovered a 9mm handgun from underneath White's bed, the prosecutors showed in court.

At the time he was charged with Darden's murder, White was already incarcerated in connection to an unrelated robbery, burglary and shooting.

Sentencing has been scheduled for Nov. 23.