The trial of Jaylen Prince, the 16-year-old Joppatowne High School student charged in the shooting death of fellow student Warren Grant, 15, last September inside the school, is expected to conclude this week, according to Harford Circuit Judge Kevin Mahoney.

Mahoney said Friday that he believes a verdict will be issued Wednesday. The trial paused for the Memorial Day holiday Monday, and the prosecution expects to close its case Tuesday, Harford County State’s Attorney Alison Healey said.

According to Friday testimony, Prince was arrested in the stairwell of an apartment unit after a resident said he overheard the teen discussing the fatal shooting on the phone, repeating, “I messed up my life.”

The shooting stemmed from a verbal altercation between Prince and Grant about a girl, witnesses said. Inside a school bathroom, the fight escalated when Prince pulled a handgun from a backpack and shot Grant in the upper abdomen, prosecutors said. Grant later died from the wound, and Prince was charged with first-degree murder.

Witness testimony Friday included details on how Prince was arrested after he left the school.

Witness Juan Cortez testified Friday that he’d been in his apartment on Riley Court, less than a half mile away from the high school, on the day of the shooting. Cortez said he overheard someone outside his first-floor apartment saying, “I shot him … I hurt him … I messed up my life.”

Cortez told the court that he did not feel safe, so he returned to his bedroom and called the police.

Harford County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Greg Dietz testified that he’d been among the police officers who responded to Cortez’s 911 call. Body camera footage viewed in court shows police moving up the stairs of the three-story apartment complex with rifles drawn. Armed with a handgun, Dietz covered the entrance to the complex and said he looked down a stairway that led to Cortez’s apartment: “I noticed a shoe sticking out under the stairway,” Dietz testified.

On the body camera footage, officers yell for Prince to “crawl out” from under the stairway and for him to put his hands up.

“Yes, sir,” Prince responds as he is taken into custody a few feet away from Cortez’s front door.

Dietz told the court that when Prince crawled out, he had a cellphone in his hand that was actively on a phone call.

Prince’s phone was seized by police, but a firearm was not found, Dietz testified.

Police believe another student disposed of the handgun used in the shooting. Investigators played Ring video footage collected from the home of a man who lives on Joppa Farm Road, near the school.

In the footage, shown in court, Prince is talking on a cellphone, telling someone to “toss the gun.”

The case’s lead investigator, Detective Patrick Ross, of the Harford County Sheriff’s Office, testified that Prince can be seen on high school surveillance footage fleeing school property. Just before Prince left, a group of students ran up to him, and one student reached into the backpack on Prince’s back, Ross testified.

Healey presented zoomed-in screenshots of the surveillance footage that show the student placing a laptop into Prince’s backpack and continuing to reach into the bag.

In the Ring camera footage from the Joppa Farm Road neighbor, Prince can be seen walking swiftly and talking on the phone. Ross testified that in the footage, Prince can be heard telling someone to toss the gun in the water.

Joppatowne High is less than a mile away from the Bush River. Across the main road in front of the high school is a marina and numerous waterfront communities.

Healey said during opening statements that police found 9mm hollow-point ammunition branded for “law enforcement use only” under Prince’s mattress. Through witness testimony Friday, Healey worked to connect the ammunition to the shooting.

Ross testified Friday that a search warrant was issued for the home and vehicle of the student who police believe helped Prince get rid of the gun. The student’s father is a corrections officer in Anne Arundel County, and during a search of their home, the same “law enforcement use only” ammunition was found in the father’s safe.

Prosecutors said charges will not be filed against the student who police believe helped Prince discard the gun.

Have a news tip? Contact Matt Hubbard at mhubbard@baltsun.com, 443-651-0101 or @mthubb on X.