A teen accused of carrying a stolen gun onto a local high school campus the morning after he threatened to shoot a former girlfriend at school pleaded not guilty to several charges Tuesday afternoon in a Bowie County courtroom.
Ladarious Kashone Cardwell-Forte, 17, appeared Tuesday afternoon for arraignment with Assistant Public Defender Deborah Moore before 102nd District Judge Jeff Addison. Moore entered a plea of not guilty on Cardwell-Forte's behalf to theft of a firearm, unlawfully carrying a weapon on school grounds and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
Moore asked the court to reduce a $50,000 bond to an amount Cardwell-Forte can afford. Assistant District Attorney Craig Foster opposed any reduction, citing the nature of the offenses and concern for the safety of the community.
Addison agreed to take the request under advisement but did not make a ruling. Addison scheduled the case for an Aug. 6 pretrial hearing.
The young defendant allegedly went to a unit of the Lakeridge Apartments in Wake Village, Texas, where the 14-year-old girl lived with her mother at about 8:30 p.m. March 18, according to a probable cause affidavit. The girl's mother told police that Cardwell-Forte was "yelling and cursing" when she answered a knock at the door.
The mother reported that the girl and Cardwell-Forte had been boyfriend and girlfriend for about six weeks when their relationship ended and her daughter started "talking" to a different young man. Cardwell-Forte allegedly demanded that his former girlfriend call the second young man.
Cardwell-Forte, draped in a blanket, allegedly threw the phone to the ground after speaking to his rival. Two young women with Cardwell-Forte were allegedly trying to calm him when he pulled out a pistol and pointed it at the mother and her daughter through the apartment door.
The mother reported that she slammed the door, locked it, ushered her children into a back room and extinguished the lights. When Wake Village police arrived, the mother showed them text messages sent March 16 in which Cardwell-Forte allegedly threatened to kill the girl and her new boyfriend at school. Liberty-Eylau Independent School District Chief of Police Bart Veal, who was coordinating with local police, allegedly documented text messages from Cardwell-Forte to the girl stating he would "blow her head off at school because he really doesn't care."
Officers searched for Cardwell-Forte that night but were unable to locate him. Early the following morning, officers gathered at Liberty-Eylau High School in search of Cardwell-Forte, fearing he intended to go through with his alleged threats. The officers noticed a student arriving late who had just signed in at the front office and stopped him in a hallway as he headed toward classrooms. In the waistband of Cardwell-Forte's pants, officers allegedly found a 9 mm handgun that had been reported stolen in Texarkana, Texas.
Individuals 17 and older who are accused of criminal conduct are handled in the adult criminal justice system in Texas. Cardwell-Forte will turn 18 in August.
The assault charge is punishable by two to 20 years in prison. Unlawfully carrying a weapon on school property is punishable by two to 10 years in prison. Theft of a firearm is punishable by six months to two years in a state jail.