16-year-old who fatally stabbed another teen over 'McDonald's sauce' sentenced to 5 years

WASHINGTON, DC: A 16-year-old who fatally stabbed her friend during an argument over sweet-and-sour sauce will serve five years in juvenile detention.

Naima Liggon, another 16-year-old girl died in August 2023 following a violent altercation between friends at a McDonald's in Washington, DC.

Accused gets maximum sentence of five years in juvenile 

Officers were called to a hospital where a girl was being treated for stab wounds; the victim later passed away from her wounds.

Initially, the defendant, whose name is not publicly known, was accused of murder. In December, she accepted a plea agreement for manslaughter.

She was recently given the maximum sentence of 5 years in juvenile detention, according to local ABC affiliate WJLA. When she becomes twenty-one, she will be freed.

Three girls were shown getting out of a car where there had been a fistfight on surveillance footage that was shown during the hearing, according to WJLA.

After intervening to break up the fight, Naima Liggon was stabbed in the stomach and subsequently in the heart.

During a police interview, the defendant allegedly acknowledged that a fight over the well-liked condiment was the cause of the violence.

The victim's mother expresses a desire for the accused to face adult charges

The judge stated that the entire incident was unsettling and that she was unable to comprehend it when imposing the sentence. "This was really over sweet-and-sour sauce?" WJLA quotes Judge Andrea Hertzfeld as saying. "It’s very hard to make sense of."

According to Liggon's mother, her daughter was murdered by a person she had known since elementary school. Joy Liggon stated at Wednesday's sentencing hearing, "I still don’t understand how someone who called herself a friend, [could] do something so heinous," according to a Washington Post report.

Joy Liggon expressed her desire for the teen to face adult charges from federal prosecutors. "Five years is not enough, but at least it is the maximum."

Joy Liggon added, "I hope she is rehabilitated by then." Wylace Liggon, the victim's father, told the Washington Post that although the sentence was unjust, "it's a form of justice."

The teen defendant's attorney had contended that her actions were justified as self-defense. The teenager reportedly apologized to the family in court on Wednesday.