Marcas Johnson, 19, died Jan. 22 in a Lake Park shopping plaza. Broadus Peterkine Jr. and Divien Colson face charges in connection to his death and have been denied bond.
LAKE PARK — Marcas Johnson loved tinkering with anything on wheels, his mother said, and even fixed up his own red- and green-colored dirt bike.
Someone stole that bike Jan. 21. The 19-year-old spotted it the next day behind Tommy’s Cycle off Northlake Boulevard in Lake Park and confronted 18-year-old Divien Colson, who was standing next to it.
Within minutes Johnson was shot to death, reportedly by 19-year-old Broadus Peterkine Jr., who was said to have taken the gun Colson pulled on Johnson and fired it into Johnson’s pickup as he left.
Colson and Peterkine were arrested Thursday and Monday, respectively, on murder, aggravated assault and weapon offense charges.
The Riviera Beach teens are being held in the Palm Beach County Jail without the possibility of posting bond. After a hearing Tuesday morning, Peterkine’s private defense attorney, Scott Skier, said the teen plans to plea not guilty to the charges. He declined to comment further.
Records indicate Colson has been in custody since Jan. 27 when he was picked up on charges of illegally possessing a gun, which stemmed from a Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office investigation into images he posted on Instagram in which he rapped about wanting “to put this 30 on someone,” referencing the 30-round capacity of the gun he was holding.
Johnson and his girlfriend, whom family say was in the white pickup with him that afternoon, drove around looking for the stolen dirt bike, records state.
He suspected someone he knew as “Devin” took it.
He found “Devin,” as in Divien Colson, behind Tommy’s Cycle shortly before noon Jan. 22. He was standing next to Johnson’s bike.
They fought until Colson pulled a gun, a witness told investigators. Peterkine eventually took the gun, and Johnson and his girlfriend left.
They made it about a block in Johnson’s white pickup to the parking lot of the Tri City Plaza in the 1500 block of Prosperity Farms Road before Colson rode by on another dirt bike. His passenger on the bike, Peterkine, fired three shots at them, the sheriff’s office said. Two hit Johnson.
Rescue crews took Johnson to St. Mary’s Medical Center in West Palm Beach, where he died that afternoon.
Sheriff’s authorities found surveillance-camera footage of the confrontation, which matched the witness’ story.
Johnson’s mother, Cassandra Edwards, said she last saw her son the night before he was killed. He had stopped by her Lake Park home, about 1 1/2 miles from the plaza, to pick up his fishing gear.
Someone called her the next afternoon to tell her that her son had been shot.
Johnson was the second teenager killed in the town over the last three months. Jonathan White, 18, was fatally shot at about 11 a.m. Oct. 9 in the 700 block of Laurel Drive.
To date, no one faces charges in White’s death.