'This is insanity': 2 teens being prosecuted as adults in Family Dollar drive-by killing
Two teens are now being prosecuted as adults in a drive-by shooting last year in the parking lot of an Avondale Family Dollar that killed 16-year-old Galevon Beauchamp.
Tayvon Coffee, 18, and Denerick Williams, 17, have been indicted by a Hamilton County grand jury on charges including murder and felonious assault. Each is facing up to life in prison.
Both were originally charged as juveniles.
Two other teens, who according to court documents were 15 and 14 at the time, also face murder charges in connection with the June 2021 shooting. Their cases are still pending in Hamilton County Juvenile Court. In a news release Monday, Prosecutor Joe Deters said his office is seeking to prosecute the other two teens as adults.
According to court documents, on June 21, 2021, Coffee drove a stolen Nissan Altima to the crowded Family Dollar parking lot at 3508 Reading Road.
Williams and the other two teens were passengers in the car, prosecutors said. The three "fired multiple shots into the crowd," prosecutors said, killing Galevon.
Court documents describe one of the guns as a stolen Sig Sauer 9mm handgun. A 9mm Zastava pistol also was used, the documents say.
The day before the shooting, according to Deters, Williams, then 16, and the 15-year-old escaped from Hillcrest Academy, a residential facility for juveniles in Springfield Township. Williams was placed there after being convicted as a juvenile for motor vehicle theft and possession of drugs. The 15-year-old was at Hillcrest for a gun charge and possession of drugs.
"This is insanity," Deters said in a statement. "I know, for many, it is hard to imagine teenage boys being this dangerous. The longer we excuse and minimize the serious criminal offenses committed by juveniles, the more cases like this we will have."
Court records do not list attorneys for either Coffee or Williams.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: 2 teens being prosecuted as adults in Family Dollar drive-by killing
