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Teen's Aunt Charged With Supplying Gun That Killed Endia Martin

CHICAGO (CBS) -- The aunt of a teenage girl accused of fatally shooting 14-year-old Endia Martin in 2014 has been indicted on federal weapons charges, for allegedly providing her niece with the revolver used in the slaying.

Vandetta Redwood, 34, has been indicted on one count of transferring a firearm to a juvenile while knowing that the juvenile intended to use it in a crime of violence, and one count of possession of a firearm within 1,000 feet of a school zone, according to federal prosecutors.

Redwood allegedly gave a loaded .38 caliber revolver to her niece on April 28, 2014, knowing the girl planned to kill someone, prosecutors said.

She pleaded not guilty when she appeared in court Thursday, and was ordered held without bond , pending a detention hearing set for Tuesday.

This isn't the first time Redwood has been charged in the shooting, but previous charges filed by Cook County prosecutors were dismissed two years ago. Redwood was charged with mob action and obstruction of justice shortly after the shooting, but a judge dismissed the charges after viewing a cell phone video of the attack, saying the state did not meet the burden of proof required to charge Redwood.

Redwood's niece, now 16, faces a murder charge as a juvenile, accused of shooting Endia Martin after a months-long dispute over a boy erupted into an argument between several girls in the Back of the Yards neighborhood.

Cook County prosecutors had alleged Redwood lied to police about being at the scene of the shooting, and had told her niece "you guys better kick their ass" during the 2014 confrontation in the 900 block of West Garfield Boulevard.

The alleged shooter's uncle, Donnell Flora, was convicted last month on one count of murder in Endia's death and one count of attempted murder in the shooting of Lanekia Reynolds, who was wounded in the attack.

Flora admitted to accompanying his niece to the fight, and bringing the gun she used to shoot Endia, but he said he told his niece to give the gun to Redwood.

Redwood was called to testify at Flora's trial, but invoked the Fifth Amendment when asked where she went after coming home from work on the day of the shooting. She repeatedly invoked her right not to incriminate herself when prosecutors pressed her for details of her connection to the confrontation.

If convicted of the federal charges, Redwood faces up to 10 years in prison for transferring the gun to her niece, and 5 years for possessing a gun within 1,000 feet of a school.

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