KISSIMMEE, Fla. – A 17-year-old accused of stabbing a 16-year-old Kissimmee girl to death in November is scheduled to appear before a judge later this month to enter a plea.
Anas Muhammad faces a murder charge in the killing of Paola Pagan. He is expected to enter a plea during an arraignment hearing on Feb. 13.
[TRENDING: WATCH AGAIN: SpaceX early morning rocket launch from Kennedy Space Center | Florida 16-year-old student’s life changed by mystery illness; family seeks help | Become a News 6 Insider]
According to Kissimmee police, Muhammed, who goes by “Nas,” stabbed Pagan while she was leaving for school.
“During the investigation... of Mr. Muhammad, it was apparent he had very dangerous thoughts about killing someone and, unfortunately, he was able to carry this one out,” Kissimmee police Deputy Chief Betty Holland said during a news conference in November.
Holland said Pagan was able to get back into her apartment and her family found her. She later died at a hospital, police said.
A 911 caller told dispatch the girl had a “hole in her neck” and “it looks like a stabbing or something, something punctured.”
Holland said Pagan and Muhammad were estranged friends, who had not spoken in about two years.
According to a juvenile arrest warrant, he had broken off the friendship because he thought Pagan “was the reason their group of friends had split up over smoking cannabis.”
The arrest warrant shows Muhammad knew that Pagan left a certain time to go to school and waited at the bottom of the stairs until she walked out of the breezeway before stabbing her with a small, black pocketknife an unknown number of times, adding he thought she would be an “easy target.”
Muhammad told police “if someone else walked out of the breezeway, he would have done the same thing to them,” according to the arrest warrant.
“I believe that it could have been anybody. I guess for a period of time, he’s had these thoughts that he just wanted to carry out this particular crime and she just happened to be that person at that time,” Holland said.
Get today’s headlines in minutes with Your Florida Daily: