Two teenage girls, one 13 years old and the other 14, appeared in Johnson County court Wednesday morning to hear charges against them in connection to a fatal shooting Saturday morning at a park in Olathe, Kansas.
Both girls are charged with first degree murder in the death of Marco Cardino, 19, of Smithville, Missouri.
They are the fifth and sixth teens charged with murder in Cardino’s death, which occurred early Saturday at Black Bob Park, 14500 West 151st Street.
Court records show that the District Attorney’s Office is asking the court to try the 14-year-old girl as an adult.
On Tuesday, the Johnson County District Attorney’s office announced that four other youths were in custody and have been charged with first degree murder in Cardino’s death.
Those include three 14-year-olds and a 13-year-old, all from Olathe. The Post is not naming them as they are all minors.
The DA’s office is also attempting to certify three of those teens as adults in the case.
All four had their first court appearances Tuesday. According to court records, at least three are in juvenile detention.
Court records also mention aggravated robbery as part of the sequence of events that led to the killing.
Olathe Police made the first arrest in the case on Sunday, followed by three more Monday and two on Tuesday.
The shooting
The Olathe Police Department’s Facebook post said police were dispatched to the park, at 14500 West 151st Street at 3:57 a.m. on Saturday, May 14, on reports of gunshots.
When they arrived, they discovered a “young Hispanic victim with multiple gunshot wounds” later identified as Cardino. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Court records show at least four of the teenagers attend middle school in Johnson County.
One of them attends Overland Trail Middle School in the Blue Valley School District.
Three of them attend or have attended Santa Fe Trail Middle School in the Olathe School District, with one of those more recently appearing to have attended Mill Creek Middle School in De Soto.
Kansas state law allows minors 14-17 years old to be charged as adults for certain high-level felonies. A court hearing will be held in each suspect’s case to determine if they will be tried as an adult.
Fox 4 has reported that the DA’s office has said the incident Saturday morning was the result of a drug deal, which led to a robbery and then a shooting, but a spokesperson for the DA would not comment on that when asked by the Post Wednesday.
Cardino was found shot to death in a car.
The next court appearances for the the teens are scheduled for June.
Mike Frizzell contributed to this report.
