A Harford County Circuit Court jury acquitted 19-year-old Tyjeir Cole of all 12 counts related to the killing of 18-year-old Kylonne Taylor and attempted murder of 18-year-old Jaylen Jackson at a home on North Sewards Court in Aberdeen’s new Beechtree Estates community in January 2025.

The jury deliberated for about five hours after the nine-day trial, overseen by Judge Yolanda Curtin. The verdict came on Jan. 20.

Cole, of Aberdeen, had been charged with murder, attempted murder, assault and firearms-related offenses following the Jan. 5, 2025 shooting at a birthday party.

A group of six boys, including Cole, showed up to what Assistant State’s Attorney Trenna Manners called a “lame, boring party,” around 12:15 a.m. — 15 minutes before the party was set to end — wearing ski masks and North Face jackets.

Manners said Taylor and Jackson, who were among 10 to 15 teens looking at their phones in the dimly lit basement, looked up from their phones to see a gun pointed at their faces. Witnesses then heard six gunshots.

She said Cole and 18-year-old Bernard Lee, of Abgindon, held the guns, though she admitted the DNA on a recovered gun had no match for Cole.

“There was a plan, and it was executed,” Manners said during the state’s closing arguments. “[Cole] could’ve chose different options, but what he chose was violence.”

Cole’s attorney, Brandon Mead, during his closing argument said he wanted to make one thing clear: “Just because the state says over and over that Tyjeir Cole had a gun does not make it true.”

“The state doesn’t have evidence, so they make stuff up. … We spent two weeks here listening to nothing about nothing,” he said, explaining that Cole was at the party for fun, didn’t know a gun was going to be brought and didn’t touch the gun.

He said that the investigation was “poorly done” and that Kylonne Taylor’s family deserved better.

After the verdict, Mead said: “We’re very happy that the citizens of Harford County that made up the jury of Mr. Cole’s peers saw through the state’s attempts at confusion [and] the state’s attempts at creating evidence that didn’t exist to come to a just verdict.”

The State’s Attorney’s Office declined to comment due to the other pending cases related to the shooting.

Three other Harford men — Ezri White, 21, of Bel Air; Lee; and Amir Dorsey, 19, of Edgewood — also face murder charges related to the shooting and have trials slated for February, March and May, respectively.

A fourth suspect, Quinton Jackson, 19, of Edgewood, was sentenced to 11 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact to first-degree murder in mid-December.

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