A Miami-Dade teen charged with the fatal shooting of a 13-year-old classmate on a school bus had his plea entered in court Monday.
An attorney for Jordyn Howe, 15, entered a "not guilty" plea on Howe's behalf for the November shooting death of Lourdes Guzman-DeJesus, NBC6 reports.
Howe and Guzman-DeJesus were on a private charter school bus in Homestead when police say Howe displayed a concealed .40 caliber handgun. Howe allegedly passed the gun around to fellow students before it fired and fatally wounded Guzman, who was pronounced dead at Miami Children's Hospital.
Though Howe was initially charged as a minor in the case, the decision was reversed when circuit court judge Orlando Prescott deferred to prosecutors last Wednesday and ruled Howe to be tried as an adult.
“[Trying Howe as an adult] is what we were fighting for," Guzman's mother Ady DeJesus told CBS Miami. "He has to pay for what he did as an adult and it teaches other kids, too, 'This is what you get for doing things you’re not supposed to.'”
Howe faces charges including one count of manslaughter, possession of a concealed firearm, and illegal possession of a firearm by a minor.
Update Wednesday, 1:20 p.m. -- Howe appeared in court Wednesday, where Judge Sue Ellen Vezner placed the teen under a curfew which only allows him to attend school and church.