COLUMBUS, Ohio — A 17-year-old has been indicted on murder charges in the death of Columbus mother Alexa Stakely. This is part of a concerning trend that city leaders say shows a rise in youth violence even as the overall number of homicides declines.

Rayyon Hawkins was 16 at the time of Stakely’s death. A Franklin County grand jury recently indicted him on murder charges. During a juvenile court hearing to determine whether Hawkins should be tried as an adult, Stakely’s mother urged the court to treat the teen in accordance with the seriousness of the charges.

“You then chose to gas, press the accelerator when she was on the hood of the car yelling, ‘my baby, my baby'," Sandy Stakely said during the hearing. “You are missing that discernment.”

She also questioned whether Hawkins had sh

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