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Ryan Joseph Vega, a 16-year-old D.C. resident, was a juvenile at the time of the stabbing, but tried as an adult.
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A teenager has been convicted in Virginia for allegedly stabbing a high school senior to death in 2022 during an off-campus fight in Alexandria.
Ryan Joseph Vega, 16, was a juvenile at the time of the stabbing but was tried as an adult when he was convicted of Second Degree Murder and Murder by Mob.
On May 24, 2022, investigators say Vega was caught on video stabbing Luis Mejia Hernandez, 18, in the parking lot of the Bradlee Shopping Center.
Officers responded to the shopping center at 3600 King Street for a report of a "large number of high school students having gathered" around noon.
Police say a large fight broke out, during which Luis Mejia Hernandez was stabbed in the chest. Hernandez died shortly after being stabbed, investigators say.
Surveillance video was recovered from nearby businesses as well as cell phones from bystanders. From that, police were able to identify a number of suspects believed to be involved in the fight, including Ryan Vega.
Detectives say Vega can be seen in one photo holding a knife.
While a search warrant was being executed, detectives also recovered video of the fight from Vega's phone. The video had been sent to him through a chat function and captures him stabbing Hernandez.
After his arrest, Vega admitted to the killing but claimed it was done in self-defense. He also said the fight had begun when two groups of students had decided they were going to fight.
Vega is currently incarcerated at the Northern Virginia Juvenile Detention Center pending a sentencing hearing scheduled for September 28, 2023.
The maximum penalty for each offense is 40 years in prison.
While Vega was tried as an adult, police say the court has the option of sentencing him entirely as a juvenile, entirely as an adult, or by blending/combining a juvenile and adult sentence.
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