No contest plea, sentence end case against 1 of 4 defendants charged in Erie boy's killing

One of the four defendants charged in connection with the fatal drive-by shooting of 7-year-old Antonio Yarger Jr. has pleaded no contest and been sentenced to six to 12 years in state prison for playing a lesser role in the April 2022 slaying, which traumatized Erie and underscored the hold that gang violence has on the city.

The defendant who entered the plea, Abbas K. Al-Harbi, is 18 but was 17 when Antonio was shot near the corner of Downing Avenue and Fairmount Parkway on April 14, 2022.

Al-Harbi is the first defendant in the case to plead no contest or guilty, though two of the other defendants testified at the preliminary hearing in the case and are not expected to go to trial.

The defendant charged with firing the shots, Abdullah O. Ismael, 19, is the only defendant headed to trial at this point, according to information presented at Al-Harbi's plea hearing and sentencing in Erie County Common Pleas Court on Thursday.

Al-Harbi was not accused of killing Antonio, who police and prosecution said was an innocent bystander shot in a dispute between two rival street gangs.

Al-Harbi was accused of driving a car in the neighborhood in advance of the shooting and looking for the intended target, identified only as N.P. in the plea documents. Al-Harbi was also accused of handling his own gun during the episode that ended in Antonio's death. Ismael, the accused gunman, was in another car and fired from the back seat of that vehicle, police said.

Al-Harbi was tried as an adult because of the nature of the crimes against him. The charges initially included conspiracy to commit criminal homicide and conspiracy to commit aggravated assault.

In a plea deal, Al-Harbi on Thursday pleaded no contest to aggravated assault as a first-degree felony and the first-degree misdemeanor of possession of a firearm by a minor. The prosecution dropped the other charges.

Erie County Judge John J. Mead immediately after the plea sentenced Al-Harbi to six to 12 years in state prison. The District Attorney's Office and the defense jointly recommended the sentence, which is on the high end of the standard range of the state sentencing guidelines.

With the no contest plea, Al-Harbi agreed not to challenge the prosecution's evidence that he was driving the car in a search for the intended victim and had his own gun, which was not the weapon used in the killing, the lead prosecutor, Chief Deputy District Attorney Jeremy Lightner said in court.

Al-Harbi turned and spoke to victim's family in courtroom

Lightner said at a previous hearing that the shooting grew out of a dispute between two rival gangs. He said on Thursday that Al-Harbi and the three other defendants hatched a plan in which "they decided they were going to go after a teenage peer" and Antonio was shot and killed instead.

Al-Harbi by his actions also encouraged the desire of the accused shooter, Ismael, "to put bullets in juveniles that day," Lightner said on Thursday.

Lightner said the District Attorney's Office agreed to the plea deal to avoid a possible acquittal at trial or having a judge send Al-Harbi's case to juvenile court. He said the District Attorney's Office consulted with Antonio's family about the plea deal.

Before he was sentenced, Al-Harbi turned to Antonio's family, seated in the gallery, and apologized.

"I am sorry for what happened to your son," he said. "I hope one day you can find it in your heart to forgive me."

His lawyer, Gene Placidi, asked Mead to impose the recommended sentence of six to 12 years. He said Al-Harbi was a student at Erie High School at the time of the shooting and has not been in trouble since he has been held in prison since his arrest in July 2022.

"He wants this to get behind him," Placidi said of the reason Al-Harbi pleaded no contest.

Mead said Al-Harbi deserved prison for his role — though not the major role — in Antonio's death.

"This is a sad, tragic loss of an innocent child," Mead said.

Two cars were part of plot that ended in Antonio's death

Antonio, known by his nickname "Espn," after ESPN, for his love of sports, was shot in the head as he was walking with a group of friends in his Downing Avenue neighborhood at about 7:40 p.m. on April 14, 2022. He was walking among a group of six children, age 13 and younger, police said. Antonio died four days later.

The police charged Al-Harbi, Ismael and the others based partly on video surveillance and information from one of the co-defendants, Yassin A. Ibrahim, now 21 but 19 at the time. He is accused of driving the car from which police said Ismael fired the fatal shot, according to court records.

A fourth defendant, Yussuf M. Hassan, now 22 but 20 at the time, is accused of providing a Glock 43 handgun to Ismael right before the shooting and being in the other car with Al-Harbi, who was driving.

Hassan, Ibrahim and Ismael are in prison as they await prosecution. The District Attorney's Office is seeking convictions of first-degree murder against them.

Erie police used surveillance video from houses and other locations to connect two cars to the fatal shooting of Antonio: a gold Chevrolet Cruze and a stolen black Honda CR-V. Police said Ismael fired from the CR-V, which Ibrahim was driving, and that Al-Harbi was driving the Cruze, with Hassan as a passenger.

Ibrahim, who cooperated with police, told investigators that, shortly before the shooting, he was driving the CR-V and following the Cruze as both vehicles headed north on Downing Avenue toward Fairmount Parkway, according to a criminal complaint and probable-cause affidavit filed in the case.

As the vehicles approached Fairmount Parkway, the Cruze stopped and backed into Linwood Avenue, just south of Fairmount Parkway, Ibrahim told the police, according to the arrest records. Ibrahim told investigators that Ismael told him to keep driving toward Fairmount Parkway, where Antonio was walking with his friends just south of Antonio's house on Downing Avenue. Police said Ismael opened fire as the CR-V turned right and headed east on Fairmount Parkway.

Lightner, the prosecutor, offered an explanation at a previous hearing for why the Cruze stopped and backed into Linwood Avenue before the shooting. He said Al-Harbi, upon seeing the group that included Antonio, was concerned that the group would recognize the Cruze, which Lightner said Al-Harbi was known to drive in the neighborhood. The black Honda CR-V was stolen and not as easily recognized, Lightner said.

Plea negotiations underway with another defendant

Hassan and Ibrahim testified against Ismael at his preliminary hearing, in August 2022. As of Thursday, only Ismael is scheduled to go to trial, Mead said in court.

At another hearing on Thursday, Mead agreed to reschedule Ismael's trial from Jan. 8 to a date to be set. He made the change to allow Ismael's lawyers, Eric Hackwelder and Stephen Sebald, to arrange for an expert to testify on Ismael's behalf at a pretrial hearing to determine if his case should be moved to juvenile court. Ismael was 17 at the shooting and is also being tried as an adult.

And at another hearing on Thursday, Mead granted a request from Hassan's lawyer to put his case on hold. The lawyer, David Wenger, of Boardman, Ohio, told Mead he needed the pause because he is "in very strong plea negotiations with the commonwealth."

Whenever a trial occurs, and whoever testifies at it, Lightner on Thursday made clear that the focus will be on Antonio Yarger Jr. Lightner emphasized at Al-Harbi's plea and sentencing that Antonio was doing nothing wrong when he was shot to death in his neighborhood.

"He was doing what every 7-year-old is supposed to do — play on a corner," Lightner said.

Ed Palattella at epalattella@timesnews.com. Follow him on X @ETNpalattella.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Teen pleads no contest, gets prison in case tied to Erie boy's killing