2 Teens Charged In Murder Of Corrections Officer

First-degree murder charges have been filed against two teens accused of gunning down corrections officer Bradley Gerrard in Buckeye.

Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas says the two teens -- 15 and 16 years old -- planned a carjacking, during which one teen laid down in the street while the other hid. "When Officer Gerrard stopped his car and exited to see if the man in the roadway needed help, the man in hiding approached him and shot him with a shotgun," says Thomas. He says the teens later set the car on fire.

Thomas says the teens are being charged as adults. "These two defendants are being prosecuted as adults because of the stop juvenile crime initiative, which the voters of this state passed in 1996," says Thomas. "That allows us to prosecute anyone between the ages of 15 and 17 years old who are accused of murder as adults."

Thomas says the decision to charge the teens as adults was not difficult. "These are young people who didn't do a prank -- this isn't shoplifting or anything like that. This is obviously an extremely serious crime in which they plotted and went to great lengths to carry out a murder."

Along with first-degree murder, the teens are also being charged with armed robbery, auto theft and arson. Even though the teens will be tried as adults, the death penalty will not be an option, since federal law does not allow it for juveniles.