Details On Stabbing Outside Mall

The Sun says an investigator testified last week that the stabbing of a teenager outside the mall "was the culmination of a drug deal gone bad."

One of the accused, Bernardo Leconte, allegedly claimed he was a member of the Bloods gang, according to the story. The other, Cordero Dante Taylor, had been "arrested seven times as a juvenile, prosecutor Jim Dietrich told the judge. In two cases, Taylor was found responsible for robbing a pizza delivery man and for involvement in the attempted armed robbery of a Chinese restaurant."

Cordero Dante Taylor was charged as an adult in the Jan. 10 stabbing of Julian Lichtenstein, who was 17 at the time of the incident. Taylor, of Forestville in Prince George's County, and the other suspect, Bernardo Leconte, 18, of Columbia, were charged with attempted first- and second-degree murder, first- and second-degree assault, carrying a concealed weapon and reckless endangerment.

The lead investigator in the case, Detective Joseph King, testified about the details of the incident, which occurred about 4 p.m. on a Tuesday. The stabbing left many residents shocked that violence had come to one of the Howard County community's prime gathering spots.

Lichtenstein had arranged to sell marijuana to Taylor and Leconte in the parking lot outside the JCPenney store at the mall, King said. After a quarrel over the quality of the drugs, Leconte put them in his pocket, he said. Lichtenstein told the detective that after he objected to Leconte taking the drugs without paying for them, Leconte pulled out a pocket knife.

Lichtenstein said he then took a swing at Leconte, who retaliated by stabbing him several times, King said.