From staff, wire reports
A 14-year-old Madison boy who was certified to stand trial for murder as an adult Friday was later transferred from the juvenile detention center to Madison County Metro Jail.
Hammad Memon, accused in the slaying of his Discovery Middle School classmate Todd Brown, is being held in isolation under suicide watch, authorities said.
Brown was shot to death in the hallway of the school on Feb. 5.
Hammad Memon is the son of Dr. Iqbal Memon, a pediatrician who practices in Athens, and Safia Memon. The family lives in Madison. Until 2009, Dr. Memon wrote occasional columns on childhood ailments for The News Courier.
No one answered the phone Friday at Memon’s Athens practice or at his Madison home when a reporter called from The News Courier.
Madison County District Judge Lynn Sherrod ordered Hammad held on a $75,000 bond during a closed court hearing. Memon, a duel citizen of the United States and the United Kingdom, must surrender his passport to be released.
According to WAFF in Huntsville, Hammad’s attorney Bruce Gardner said Dr. and Mrs. Memon are concerned about the slight 14-year-old boy being held in an adult facility. Gardner said he would have preferred Sherrod send Hammad to a mental facility or back to the juvenile center.
The boy has been in custody at a juvenile dention center since the shooting, which took place in a hallway between classes with other students nearby. Under Alabama’s youthful offender law, the boy’s name was withheld until certified to stand trial as an adult in criminal court.
Sherrod’s hearing on certification was private. District Attorney Robert Broussard and defense attorney Bruce Gardner confirmed afterward that he had been certified as an adult.
Students who witness the shooting said the shooter came up from behind Brown, pulled a gun out of his pocket and shot Brown in the head. Panic erupted in the hallway, with students scrambling into rooms as a lockdown alert was issued.
The suspect was arrested at the school.
Discovery Middle School has about 1,000 students in grades 7-9. It is located on Hughes Road in the former Bob Jones High School building that was vacated when a new high school was built several years ago.
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