The teen known as “Baby K,” who at 15 years old repeatedly pulled the trigger of a loaded but malfunctioning handgun aimed at another teen on a school bus in Prince George’s County, was sentenced to 25 years in adult prison Friday afternoon for his crimes.
Earlier this year, Kaeden Holland, now 17, pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree murder and use of a firearm in the commission of a crime of violence in a deal with prosecutors. The sentencing closed a chapter in a lengthy case that has highlighted the shortcomings of the juvenile justice system.
“But for an act of God, this clearly would have been a homicide,” said Prince George’s County Circuit Judge Michael R. Pearson, who handed down the sentence. Prosecutors had recommended 25 years to be served at the Patuxent Institution, a Maryland prison that offers a youth offender program, which the judge also imposed.
The crime on May 1, 2023, was caught on surveillance footage, an assault that prosecutors say traumatized the 14-year-old victim, a bus driver and bus aide, and the Prince George’s community at large when it went viral.
Holland read from a letter he wrote before Pearson handed down the sentence. He apologized to the victims and his own family. He said he was close to graduating high school and wanted to go to trade school to become a plumber or earn his commercial driver’s license to be a truck driver.
“I wish the things that went on ain’t happen,” Holland said.
