Two men appear in court for three fatal shootings

Jun. 15—Two Toledo men appeared before a Lucas County Common Pleas Court judge on Tuesday for their alleged involvement in three fatal shootings.

Trey Lake, 21, of the 1000 block of Hamilton Street, appeared for arraignment before Judge Linda Jennings by video connection from the Lucas County jail, where he is being held. He pleaded not guilty to separate murder charges on Tuesday.

Mr. Lake was already facing multiple felony offenses when he was indicted on June 3 with murder charges for the deaths of Omauryai Crenshaw on Aug. 13 and Cameron Lewis on Nov. 1.

At the time of his indictment, he was already being held on $2.2 million bond for charges of attempted murder of Eric Allen and Talian Smith, as well as felonious assault, aggravated robbery, carrying concealed weapons charges, tampering with evidence, and having weapons while under disability.

On Tuesday, Judge Jennings set bond 1.75 million for the August shooting, and $2 million for the November homicide — bringing his total bond among all of his cases to $5.95 million.

Mr. Lake is scheduled to appear in court on Aug. 24.

Separately, a West Toledo man already facing kidnapping and domestic violence charges was indicted by a grand jury on Monday for his role in the March shooting of an elderly man at a gas station.

Javontay Johnson, 20, of the 1800 block of Berdan Avenue, also appeared remotely from the jail before Judge Jennings on Tuesday.

He was scheduled to appear for a pretrial for allegations from a March 17 incident where he allegedly forced a woman into his car and prevented her from getting out by physically assaulting her, according to a complaint filed in Toledo Municipal Court. He allegedly kept the victim in the basement of his home and continued to assault her and point a firearm at her, the complaint shows.

However, Judge Jennings continued that case and the newly filed charges to June 22.

Two alternating counts of murder and four counts of felonious assault — all with gun and discharging a firearm from a motor vehicle specification — were filed on Monday for Mr. Johnson's role in the fatal shooting John Toyer Jr., 74.

On March 10, he allegedly fired rounds from a vehicle into a gas station parking lot in the 3100 block of North Detroit Avenue. Mr. Toyer, who was sitting in his vehicle, was struck by one of the shots. Toledo police were also conducting a stop in the same parking lot at the time of the shooting but were unharmed.

A 15-year-old boy, Kevin Taylor, Jr., was initially charged in Lucas County Juvenile Court for murder and felonious assault on the two police officers. His case is pending.

Murder charges were filed in Toledo Municipal Court one week after Mr. Johnson posted $105,000 bond for his pending kidnapping case. Toledo police identified Mr. Johnson as the second suspect on June 1, and he was arrested two days later.

He is being held on $1 million bond.