Muhammad Abdul-Malik and Teraeja Laquanna Flemmings are scheduled to appear before Judge Michael D. Carter on Monday, Aug. 10, for a pretrial hearing in the murder of Iran Moreno, a 13-year-old Pasadena boy shot dead in his bedroom nearly five years ago.
The hearing is set for 8:30 a.m. in Department F at the Pasadena Courthouse, 300 East Walnut St. It is open to the public. Both defendants face one count of murder in Moreno's death. Abdul-Malik also faces a felony charge of possession of a firearm by a felon.
Moreno was playing video games in his bedroom on the evening of Nov. 20, 2021, when a bullet came through a window of his family's home on the 900 block of North Raymond Avenue. Prosecutors allege Abdul-Malik stepped out of a vehicle parked in a vacant lot across the street, fired toward the home and fled in a car driven by Flemmings.
The Pasadena Police Department has said Moreno was not the intended target. No motive has been officially established, though Lt. Carlo Montiglio said in July 2025, after the arrests, that investigators do not believe the shooting was "gang-related in the sense of retaliation."
Moreno was an eighth-grade student at Blair Middle School. His family described him as a straight-A student who played basketball and soccer.
The break in the case
For nearly four years, no one was charged.
The break came in June 2025, when Pasadena detectives released enhanced surveillance footage and composite sketches showing a gray Ford Fusion stopped across from the home and a passenger firing eastward. The video yielded a partial license plate.
A woman in the Swampscott, Massachusetts, area recognized the man in the sketch and called police, according to Pasadena Now.
Abdul-Malik, 38, was arrested July 11, 2025, in Orlando, Florida, and extradited to California. He pleaded not guilty on Sept. 4, 2025, and remains in custody on $3 million bail. Flemmings, 31, of San Fernando, was arrested five days later by Pasadena Police Robbery Homicide Unit detectives working with the U.S. Marshals Pacific Southwest Regional Fugitive Task Force. She pleaded not guilty on July 23, 2025.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office announced the charges on July 18, 2025. If convicted, Abdul-Malik faces up to 53 years to life in state prison. Flemmings faces up to 25 years to life.
What's at stake
The case prompted a community vigil and reward offers totaling $85,000 after Moreno's death. Deputy District Attorney Antonella Nistorescu of the Major Crimes Division is prosecuting.
No trial date has been publicly set. Residents with information related to the case can contact the Pasadena Police Department at (626) 744-4241.
