Berks man sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to Reading murder
May 30—A Berks County man already serving life in prison has pleaded guilty to a Reading murder and has received another life sentence.
Tyree Cleveland, 39, whose last known address was in the first block of Shillington Road, Sinking Spring, was sentenced Friday by Judge James Gavin to life in prison without parole after pleading guilty to fatally shooting Bruce Sellers.
On Sept. 11, Cleveland and two other men killed Sellers in his Bookbindery apartment unit, police said.
The other suspects, Andre L. Davis, 53, and Michael Williams, 43, both of Reading, were also charged with first-, second- and third-degree murder in the killing of Sellers, though Cleveland is believed to have been the shooter, prosecutors said.
Davis and Williams are in the county prison awaiting further court action.
Cleveland has resided between the Reading area and Williamsport and has ties to Philadelphia, prosecutors said.
In a separate Lycoming County case, Cleveland pleaded guilty on March 23 to first-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison.
Cleveland admitted fatally shooting Heather K. Cohick, 41, in the presence of her young son and firing shots at a Pennsylvania College of Technology police officer on Sept. 28 in Williamsport, as well as committing an armed robbery at a Family Dollar store in Williamsport three days earlier.
In addition to the life sentence, a judge sentenced Cleveland to consecutive 20- to 40-year terms in the other cases.
According to PennLive, which covered the March 23 Williamsport proceeding, the plea agreement was fast-tracked because Cleveland, at his March 9 formal arraignment in the homicide case, blurted out: "I'm guilty on all charges. I'll take life sentence no death penalty."
Lycoming County prosecutors revealed at the plea hearing that Cleveland suffers from a liver condition that had him in an intensive care unit at a Williamsport hospital in late December.
Berks investigators believe one of the handguns police recovered after that homicide was used to kill Sellers.
Investigators gave this account of the Reading case:
Sellers was shot in the head after three men, one of whom was identified as Davis, entered Sellers' apartment and went to his bedroom about 1:40 a.m. intending to steal a gun from him.
Witnesses said Davis, whom they knew by the nickname "Baby" and who lived in an apartment on the same floor as the victim, had an altercation inside Sellers' apartment earlier in the day.
Several hours later, a witness saw three males enter the apartment and head for Sellers' bedroom. Moments later, a gunshot was heard. The three intruders fled the apartment.
The witness identified one of the males as "Baby."
Security camera footage taken moments before the shooting shows Davis holding open a door to the building to allow two males to enter. Moments later, the trio leave the elevator and enter Sellers' apartment.
Based on the footage, they were inside for one to two minutes before running out and going down the stairwell.
One of the men would later be identified as Williams.
Reading police interviewed a witness who was inside Seller's bedroom at the time of the shooting. The witness identified the third man, who wore a mask, as Cleveland.
The witness said Cleveland and the other two men came to Sellers' apartment to steal a gun.
The witness reported seeing Cleveland pistol-whipping Sellers while demanding to know the whereabouts of the gun.
Moments later, the witness heard a gunshot and ran out of the bedroom. The witness saw Cleveland holding a gun moments before hearing the gunshot and said Cleveland was the only person in the room with a firearm.
Cleveland's criminal history includes a drug-trafficking conviction that prohibits him from possessing firearms.
