Columbia Mall stabbing victim says attackers could be Bloods members

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101 days ago: Teen found guilty for playing part in mall stabbing

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BALTIMORE (Map, News) - A Howard teenager stabbed outside the Mall in Columbia this winter testified Monday that his attackers appeared to be involved with the Bloods gang.

Cordero Taylor, 16, of Forestville, and Bernardo Leconte, 18, of Columbia, are charged with attempted first- and second-degree murder and assault.

Taylor, who is being tried as an adult, elected to have a bench trial this week before Howard Circuit Judge Richard Bernhardt.

The victim, Julian Lichtenstein, who was 17 at the time of the incident, testified that he did not know Taylor and Leconte when they approached him Jan. 8.

Lichtenstein said he agreed to sell them less than a gram of marijuana when Leconte, who was wearing a red bandanna around his neck, took the bag and put it in his pocket without paying.

“I said, ‘I got you,’ meaning I was going to come back with my friends and deal with it,” Lichtenstein said.

“I saw [Leconte] pull out the knife ... and one of them called out the Bloods call, ‘Soowoop!’

“I thought this is obviously something involving Bloods.”

Lichtenstein said Taylor came from behind, punching him in the face so that Lichtenstein fell into the knife.

Leconte then stabbed him repeatedly as Lichtenstein ran away, Lichtenstein said.

Defense attorney Gabriel Terrasa requested all references to the Bloods be removed from evidence, because there is no indication Taylor is a gang member. Bernhardt was considering that motion Monday afternoon.

Lichtenstein said he stumbled into J.C. Penney, leaving a blood trail and collapsing in the aisle.

“I tried to ask him what happened, but he couldn’t talk. You could tell he was dying,” testified Howard Police Officer Sandra Frazier.

Lichtenstein, who lifted his shirt revealing his multiple scars, suffered stab wounds to three major organs. A quarter of his kidney was severed and his abdomen sliced in half, he said. He was treated for almost a month at the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore City.

Howard police caught Taylor and Leconte as they ran from the scene, and Leconte dropped a bloody knife, police said.

Leconte’s trial is scheduled for September.

cpeirce@baltimoreexaminer.com

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101 days ago: Teen found guilty for playing part in mall stabbing

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