Who is John Sheeran? ‘Racist’ Chatham boy, 14, charged with attempted murder after trying to drown black teen
CHATHAM, MASSACHUSETTS: John Sheeran, a 14-year-old white Chatham teen, is facing criminal charges after attempting to drown a Black youth in a racist attack on a Cape Cod pond.
On Monday, September 11, Sheeran was released to the custody of his father after a grand jury indicted him on charges of attempted murder and assault with a dangerous weapon, according to NBC.
Sheeran's indictment stems from a July 19 incident, which allegedly saw him hurl racist slurs at his unnamed victim and even refer him as "George Floyd."
What are the accusations against John Sheeran?
The investigators noted that the incident unfolded after Sheeran texted the victim and asked him to meet at Goose Neck Pond in Chatham.
Once the teen showed up at the pond, Sheeran and another boy threw rocks at him and hurled racial slurs before asking him to get into the water.
The victim couldn't swim, so he wore a life jacket in the water. Investigators said the boys then tried to pull the victim under the water until he was no longer able to breathe.
The victim told police that the accused "held on to my life jacket and pulled me underwater and back up about four-to-five times ... while doing it water got into my mouth and nose and I could not breathe."
When the victim started crying for help, the suspect and another teenager at the scene "started laughing and called me George Floyd," he said, according to Daily Mail.
The black youth was saved only after bystanders arrived at the scene and brought him to the shore.
That bystander eventually provided a statement to police, saying he had heard the victim ask Sheeran "to please not splash or push him because of his inability to swim," and that he saw Sheeran and the other youth "pushing his head underwater" while the child was "screaming for help," prompting him to swim over and yell at the two attackers to stop.
During the hearing, prosecutors alleged that this incident came several hours before Sheeran punched an Asian child in the face.
Is John Sheeran a danger to the community?
During the Monday hearing, a grand jury heard allegations against Sheeran before releasing him to home confinement in Chatham.
His release includes wearing a GPS monitoring device that will confine him to his father's home. He is also required to continue reporting to juvenile probation.
Despite the court orders, prosecutors argued that Sheeran should remain in jail as he is a danger to the community.
"Mr Sheeran can’t be out in the community because whether it’s three o’clock in the afternoon at a pond with his friends where he should be able to behave or 8.15 at night when he runs into another child, he punches that kid," said Assistant District Attorney Eileen Moriarty.
"He’s a violent child, we’ve heard no mitigating factors, this violence is unfortunately targeted towards children of other races, children that don’t look like him,' she added.