Teens admit roles in break-in at smoke shop where manager shot, killed alleged accomplice
Three teens have each admitted their roles in an October break-in at a Delhi Township smoke shop, which resulted in the fatal shooting of one of their alleged accomplices.
They entered pleas of admission on Thursday in Hamilton County Juvenile Court to numerous counts including involuntary manslaughter, burglary and receiving stolen property.
The Enquirer is not naming the teens because they have not been charged as adults. As part of their plea bargains, prosecutors agreed to dismiss additional charges and withdraw their motions to transfer the teens' cases to adult court.
Judge Kari Bloom found each teen to be delinquent and sentenced them to several years in an Ohio Department of Youth Services facility, from which they'll be released before or by the time they turn 21 years old.
The teens − two of whom are 16 and one is 17 − are among six people prosecutors say arrived in two stolen vehicles at the VIP Smoke Shop on Delhi Pike in the early morning hours of Oct. 20, throwing rocks through the storefront windows to break into the business.
They were arrested just a few days later and each admitted during interviews with police that they were present for the break-in.
Investigators say this wasn't a one-time thing, adding the teens were involved in car thefts and break-ins all over Greater Cincinnati and even as far as Dayton. They each had pending felony cases against them when the smoke shop burglary took place.
"It seems like everybody's doing it," Bloom said of car thefts, which have been on the rise in Cincinnati. "This is beyond dumb. This is illegal and now someone's dead."
Also charged are Amontae Carter, 20, and 18-year-old Messiah Hart, who are facing counts including murder and burglary in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court, where their cases are still pending.
Another teen suspected in the break-in, 16-year-old Travis Johnson, was shot and killed by a store manager, Tony Thacker, who was living in the back of the shop.
Thacker fired several shots, fatally wounding Johnson, and ran to the front of the store as he continued to fire rounds at the remaining suspects who were trying to flee in stolen cars, according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors said the teens breaking into the store is what ultimately resulted in Johnson's death.
Jay Clark, an attorney representing one of the teens, said they expected the shop to be empty and that any one of the teens could've been killed instead of Johnson.
"And only because there was somebody there, we have a tragedy that's affected all these families," Clark said. "They did not pull the trigger to cause Travis' death."
Thacker also shot Carter while he was sitting in the back of one of the stolen vehicles, officials said, adding Thacker is not allowed to own firearms due to an adjudication for a felony offense he received as a juvenile.
Thacker, 29, and his brother then tried to disable the store's security system and remove shell casings from the scene, according to prosecutors. He was indicted late last year on counts including felonious assault, tampering with evidence and illegal possession of a firearm.
Bloom told the teens that, because of the ubiquity of firearms, they should have expected they would eventually encounter someone with a gun.
"Thinking about yourselves is how you got here," Bloom said. "Because when that guy started shooting, you weren't thinking, 'I gotta get everybody out of here,' you were thinking, 'I'm gonna run as fast as I can back to the car.'"
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Teens admit roles in Delhi Twp. smoke shop break-in, fatal shooting
