17-year-old charged in Erie boy's killing was out on bond in another shooting
A 17-year-old boy charged on Monday in connection with the fatal shooting of 7-year-old Antonio "Espn" Yarger Jr. in Erie on April 14 was out on bond at the time as he awaited trial on charges in a shooting from a year earlier.
Abdullah O. Ismael, who with 19-year-old Yassin A. Ibrahim faces criminal homicide and other charges in Antonio's death, is accused in the earlier case of firing gunshots that struck an occupied residence during a shootout at a Buffalo Road gas station on March 22, 2021.
A 16-year-old boy was wounded in the shootout, but Ismael was not charged with causing the boy's injury.
Ismael was arraigned, on March 23, 2021, on felony aggravated assault and weapons charges in the shooting. He posted his $75,000 bond the next day, according to court records.
Ismael's trial — which has been continued numerous times — is now scheduled for June, though it could be postponed again, according to court records.
In the case of Antonio's death, Ismael was arraigned late Monday afternoon on charges of conspiracy to commit homicide, criminal homicide, aggravated assault, recklessly endangering another person and carrying a firearm without a license.
Ismael was held with no bond set, Erie police said. He is charged as an adult because he is accused of homicide.
Ismael's arrest on Monday came four days after Erie police charged Ibrahim in Antonio's death. Ibrahim's address is listed as being in the 1900 block of Fairmount Parkway, about a block and a half east of where Antonio was shot at the corner of Downing Avenue and Fairmount Parkway. Ismael's address is listed as in the 1700 of East 27th Street.
Ibrahim was arraigned and jailed with no bond on charges of conspiracy to commit homicide, criminal homicide and recklessly endangering.
The charges against the pair were filed after the lead detectives in the case, Detective Sgt. Matthew Berarducci and Detective Ira Bush, met with Erie County District Attorney Elizabeth Hirz and members of her staff, police said Monday afternoon.
Antonio's family was notified of the arrests, according to police.
Erie Police Chief Dan Spizarny said Tuesday that the filing of charges was the result of the "tremendous amount of work" performed by detectives on the case.
"It's just a horrible situation for the family," Spizarny said of Antonio's death. "All we can do is send them our condolences."
The Erie County District Attorney's Office and the Erie Bureau of Police have refused to release any other information in the homicide investigation. The criminal complaints filed against Ismael and Ibrahim were sealed under a court order obtained by the District Attorney's Office.
Erie police would not comment on any details of the case beyond releasing the names of the accused and the charges they face, and what police initially released in the days following the shooting.
The killing
Antonio died at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC on April 18, four days after he was shot in the head while walking with a group of people at the northwest corner of Downing Avenue and Fairmount Parkway. The shooting, which was reported on April 14 at about 7:40 p.m., happened about a block south of Antonio's home in the 2000 block of Downing Avenue, near the former Burton School.
No one else was injured in the shooting.
According to investigators, officers who responded to the shooting found Antonio on the sidewalk, with a relative holding him. Officers began performing lifesaving measures on Antonio until EmergyCare arrived on the scene and Antonio was taken to a local hospital.
Antonio was later flown to Children's Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on April 18 at 10:10 a.m., according to the Allegheny County Medical Examiner's Office.
Authorities have not commented on what they believe might have led to the shooting, how it occurred, and what led detectives to charge Ismael and Ibrahim with the crime.
The evidence collected in the case, according to investigators, included several shell casings, numerous witness statements, and many video clips from surveillance cameras in and around the area of the shooting.
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Earlier shooting
Ismael was one of two teenagers charged by Erie police as adults in the March 2021 shootout, which authorities said happened outside of the Speed Check at 1505 Buffalo Road during an altercation. He was 16 years old at the time.
Investigators wrote in case documents that surveillance video from the gas station showed a person whom police identified as Tayveon D. Gillespie standing near the gas pumps as a group of four juveniles walked toward them. As the group approached, another juvenile identified by police as Ismael is seen opening his coat and pointing to something inside, according to information in the criminal complaints against the pair.
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Investigators wrote that Gillespie was then seen pulling out a dark-colored handgun and firing gunshots, striking a 16-year-old boy in the groin. Ismael then ran near the gas station building and was seen holding a black handgun, which he placed over the roof of a vehicle and began firing shots toward Gillespie, according to information in the complaints. One of the shots struck an occupied residence, investigators said.
Gillespie, now 18, but who was 17 at the time of the shooting, pleaded guilty to a felony count of aggravated assault in the case and was sentenced in January to serve four years and six months to 10 years in state prison. Erie police charged Gillespie and Ismael as adults in the shooting under the Fisher Bill, the state law that permits police to charge juveniles 15 and older as adults in cases of violent crime. Adult charges also apply to juveniles accused of homicide.
The prosecution of the pending shooting case against Ismael has been delayed repeatedly since shortly after Ismael on May 13 waived his appearance at his formal arraignment in Erie County Common Pleas Court. Ismael was held for court on all charges in the case following his preliminary hearing on April 12, 2021.
On June 21, Ismael's lawyer, James Pitonyak, filed a motion asking for an extension of time to file a pretrial motion in the case. Erie County Judge John J. Mead granted the motion the next day.
Pitonyak went on to file five more requests for extensions to file his pretrial motions: in September, November and December 2021 and on Jan. 31 and April 18. Mead granted the requests each time.
All of the requests use similar language. Pitonyak states that he needs more time to review the evidence, including "multiple crime scene videos and photographs," according to court records.
In the most recent request, filed April 18, Pitonyak in the motion said an assistant district attorney, Jeremy Lightner, consented to the defense motion for the extension.
Mead granted the request for the extension on April 19, giving Pitonyak until June 3 to file a pretrial motion, though Pitonyak could ask for another extension.
Ismael had been out on the $75,000 bond until he was charged in the death of Antonio Yarger Jr. One of the conditions of his bail bond is that he "must refrain from criminal activity," according to court records. Bail bondsman Michael Ewing, with A+ Bail Bonds in Erie, posted the $75,000 surety bond, according to court records.
Erie 3rd Ward District Judge Tom Carney set the straight bond of $75,000 when he arraigned Ismael in the Buffalo Road shooting case on March 23, 2021, according to court records.
District Attorney Elizabeth Hirz said Tuesday that prosecutors will seek to revoke Ismael's bond given the new charges in the homicide. She said prosecutors will also seek a hearing to have Ismael held in the Erie County Prison, rather than the Edmund L. Thomas Adolescent Center.
A stolen auto connection?
Among the details still unknown in Antonio Yarger Jr.'s killing is whether the fatal gunshot was fired from a vehicle or while the suspects were on foot.
But on April 14, the day of the shooting, investigators charge that Ibrahim was behind the wheel of a black Honda CRV that was stolen in Millcreek Township and was later abandoned along an east Erie street, several blocks from the shooting scene.
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Erie police would not comment Monday on whether the stolen Honda is connected to the homicide investigation.
Ibrahim and 20-year-old Erie resident Yussuf M. Hassan were each charged on April 21 with a third-degree felony count of receiving stolen property after Erie police accused them of being in possession of the stolen Honda CRV on April 14.
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According to investigators, the Millcreek Township Police Department listed the Honda CRV as stolen after its owner reported it missing on April 13. The vehicle's owner told township police that the Honda had been parked outside of his apartment on Treetop Drive, and he had last seen it on the evening of April 12, Erie police reported.
Millcreek police said the vehicle was believed to have been locked when it was taken. How it was taken is unknown, police reported.
The theft remains under investigation by Millcreek police.
Erie police said they found the Honda CRV on the late morning of April 15, parked and unoccupied in the 1900 block of East 26th Street. Police towed the vehicle and searched it for evidence, investigators said.
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Evidence collected from the Honda included DNA samples from inside and outside of the vehicle, according to information in one of the search warrants served in the theft investigation.
Erie police detectives wrote in the criminal complaint filed against Ibrahim in the theft case that detectives collected a number of video clips that showed a black Honda CRV driving through the area on April 14.
The recovered video included images of a black Honda CRV being driven in the area of Pear Street and Downing Avenue by someone wearing a "red upper garment," according to information in a search warrant that Erie police served in the investigation.
Hassan told Erie police detectives during an April 20 interview that he had been inside the Honda CRV on April 14 with three other people, and they drove the Honda to a convenience store, investigators wrote in his criminal complaint.
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Hassan told investigators that Ibrahim, who had a connection to the area of Treetop Drive where the Honda was stolen, was in control of the vehicle, and Hassan identified the person wearing the red upper garment as Ibrahim, according to information in case documents.
Hassan stated that, on April 14, he and Ibrahim were given a ride to Buffalo Road and Camphausen Avenue, where they and two other people entered a vehicle of unknown description, drove around the area, and parked the vehicle in the 1700 block of East 27th Street, near what police said is Ismael's residence, according to information in Ibrahim's complaint.
Hassan said in his interview with police that the four exited the vehicle and got into the Honda CRV, which Ibrahim had a key for, investigators wrote in the complaint.
Hassan told police that it was the first time he had seen the Honda, and he did not know how the vehicle arrived in the area, according to the complaint.
Hassan told police Ibrahim drove the group to a convenience store and then back to the 1700 block of East 27th Street, where Ibrahim parked the Honda and the group got out. He said he left the area for about two hours, and when he returned to the 1700 block of East 27th Street the Honda was no longer parked there but was parked on a street "close to this block," according to information in Ibrahim's complaint.
Hassan told police it was the last time he saw the Honda CRV.
Hassan was arraigned on the receiving stolen property charge on April 21 and was released on a $5,000 unsecured bond, according to court records.
Ibrahim was arraigned on the charge on April 26 and was placed in the Erie County Prison on $100,000 bond, according to court records. He was still in prison on Friday when he was arraigned on the charges related to the homicide.
Contact Tim Hahn at thahn@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ETNhahn.
Contact Ed Palattella at epalattella@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ETNpalattella.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Two charged in fatal Erie shooting of 7-year-old Antonio Yarger Jr.
