A remark during a fight with another youth triggered the bullying that led a 14-year-old student to allegedly stab a schoolmate to death, the suspect’s attorney said.
Timothy Oxendine was charged with fatally stabbing 15-year-old Markel Williams multiple times on Nov. 21 outside William H. Lemmel Middle School in northwest Baltimore, but the two had been friends at times in the past, Patrick Todd Williams, Oxendine’s attorney, acknowledged this week.
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Their friendship ended after Oxendine got into a “pushing match” with one of Williams’ friends in late September or early October, Patrick Todd Williams said. The friend started the fight with Oxendine, the attorney said. He said he was not sure what sparked the altercation or if the friend attended Lemmel.
“I think my client just established himself,” the attorney said. “He wasn’t going to deal with the situation. I think Mr. [Markel] Williams didn’t like that my client didn’t want to be pulled into the fray.”
Police have said Markel Williams was on an unofficial watch list in the Northwest District for youth who are known to get into trouble, and charging documents cite an “ongoing dispute” between him and Oxendine.
Patrick Todd Williams has said that Markel Williams intensely bullied Oxendine, to the point that his client was afraid for his life. Oxendine had not attended school for about three weeks before the day of the stabbing, according to the attorney.
After the altercation, “it was just constant threats to my client,” the attorney said.
The homicide was the first in nearly eight years between students on school grounds during the school day.
Schools chief Andres Alonso said he would increase work between social workers and families throughout the school system to try to resolve conflicts that persist outside the schoolhouse.
Oxendine, charged with first-degree murder, has a preliminary hearing scheduled for Friday in Baltimore City District Court. His attorney said he would waive the hearing and try to have the case moved to juvenile court.
