photo by: Contributed

Brianna Higgins

A 17-year-old boy has been charged with second-degree murder in the shooting death of a Lawrence teen, according to a news release from the Johnson County District Attorney’s Office on Monday.

The boy is Davon D. Washington, of Kansas City, Missouri, and in addition to the murder charge, he is also charged with being a juvenile in possession of a firearm. Johnson County District Court records indicate that a motion has been filed to charge Washington as an adult.

The shooting is alleged to have occurred on Jan. 19 near the 16900 block of West 127th Street in Olathe, as the Journal-World reported. Brianna Higgins, a 15-year-old sophomore at Lawrence High School, was shot and was then driven to Olathe Medical Center by an unknown person around 11 p.m.; she was declared dead a short time later.

Washington has been remanded into juvenile custody until his next scheduled hearing on Feb. 12, according to court records. He is being represented by attorney Mark Hartman. Hartman is also representing Lawrence teen Derrick Del Reed, 18, who is alleged to have shot and killed 14-year-old Kamarjay Shaw in March of 2023 when Reed was still 17. Reed is scheduled for trial in March.

“There are no connections between my representation of Davon and my representation of Derrick,” Hartman told the Journal-World Wednesday.