Erie police charge 15-year-old as adult in shooting that sent bullets into apartment

Tim Hahn, Erie Times-News
·2 min read
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Erie police have charged a 15-year-old boy as an adult in an April 12 shooting that sent bullets into an eastside apartment that was occupied by several adults and a few young children.

Tod'Juan Lentz, of Erie, was arraigned Thursday night on first- and second-degree felony counts of conspiracy to commit aggravated assault and on a third-degree felony count of discharge of a firearm into an occupied structure in a shooting shortly before 10 p.m. on April 12 that damaged an apartment house in the 600 block of East Eighth Street.

No one was injured in the shooting, but a number of bullets entered the second-floor apartment while a male, several women and two children, ages 3 and 5, were inside, according to Erie police.

Lentz was charged as an adult in the shooting under the Fisher Bill, a state law that permits juveniles accused of committing violent crime to be charged as adults. His bond was set at $25,000 following the arraignment and he was placed in the Edmund L. Thomas Adolescent Center, according to city police and online court records.

Investigators collected and reviewed a number of video clips that captured the shooting and showed the suspects fleeing the area, according to information in Lentz's criminal complaint. Information collected in the investigation led detectives to a residence in the 500 block of East Ninth Street, where a search warrant was served and guns were recovered, according to police.

Also charged so far by Erie police in the ongoing shooting investigation are 19-year-old Shymarion T. Knox, who faces felony aggravated assault, discharge of a firearm into an occupied structure and other charges; and 20-year-old Shymon M. Knox, who faces conspiracy to commit aggravated assault and other charges, according to police and court records.

Contact Tim Hahn at thahn@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ETNhahn.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Erie teen charged as adult in shooting that sent bullets in apartment