OGDEN — A 17-year-old Ogden boy will stand trial in the shooting death of his best friend.
Second District Judge Ernie Jones bound over Brandon Parker for trial Friday on four felony counts, including murder. He is charged as an adult in the March 14 death of Caden Ferguson, 16.
When police arrived at Parker’s home early that day, Parker is accused of telling the officers, “I killed my best friend.”
The judge on Friday set bail at $250,000 for Parker, who was being held in a youth detention center.
At the conclusion of a preliminary hearing Friday, Parker pleaded not guilty to the murder charge, a first-degree felony, and to possession of a firearm by a restricted person, a third-degree felony, plus two more counts filed Friday. The new charges are theft by receiving stolen property and obstructing justice, both second-degree felonies.
During the hearing, prosecutors presented evidence including testimony from Ogden detective Andrew Howard and a video recording of the police interview with the teen.
Parker’s defense attorney Randy Marshall later told the Deseret News his client never intended to take his friend’s life.
“He made a mistake. it was an accident,” Marshall said after the hearing. “He never wanted to hurt his best friend.” He declined to elaborate.
Early on March 14, Ogden police were called to 325 Ninth St. where they found the deceased teen with a gunshot wound to his forehead, according to charging documents.
Parker then told police, “I don’t have the gun. I killed my best friend,” the charges state.
His parents were asleep upstairs at the time of the shooting, prosecutors say. After entering his mother’s room and yelling that he had shot his friend, the boy tried to shoot himself, but she wrestled the gun away, charges state.
Parker said he had used cocaine earlier in the day and that he and his friend were using dab, a form of THC, when the shooting occurred.
The 16-year-old Ferguson was planning to attend the Clearfield Job Corps Center for automotive training, according to an online obituary. He loved to go camping, spend time with his young niece and nephew and tease his little sister, the obituary says.
Parker returns to court in June.