A suspect was arrested in Ohio Tuesday in connection with a 2019 double homicide in an illegal gambling room shootout, according to law enforcement officials.
Jay Harris, age 23, was apprehended by the US Marshals Service Southern Ohio Fugitive Apprehension Strike Team (SOFAST) without any incidents. He remained in custody Wednesday and will face two counts of murder.
He also is charged with aggravated robbery, three counts of robbery, aggravated burglary, and two counts of felonious assault, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer newspaper.
The crime dates to Nov. 1, 2019, when Harris and two other men — Marvin Brown Hughes, age 23, and Taymar Jones, age 20 at the time — went to Hampton Inn and Suites in Sycamore Township, Ohio to allegedly rob players gambling in a hotel room.
During the attempted heist, a shootout took place, and three males were wounded. Two of them later died.
One, identified as JaQuan Howard, who was 15-years-old at the time, was at the gambling operation.
He was caught in the exchange of gunfire. The other fatal injury was Jones.
A third person, identified as Mykell Gamble, was shot in the foot. He survived.
Thousands of dollars were gambled that night in the hotel room, WLWT, an Ohio TV station, reported. They were playing craps and betting on a Madden football video game, the report adds.
“This was a shootout situation,” Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters was quoted by WLWT. “The people who set up the illegal gambling operation were armed and the people who attempted to rob the operation came armed as well — a chaotic scene.”
Six Suspects Indicted
Last month, six people were indicted in connection with the shootout and robbery. Hughes is facing the same charges as Harris, the report said.
Also facing the same charges is Kevin Coes, age 21. He was gambling in the hotel room before the robbery attempt, Deters told the Enquirer. Later, it was discovered he was connected to the robbery plot, Deters added.
If each of the three gets convicted on the multiple charges, each could face a sentence of as much as life in prison.
Coes’ girlfriend, identified as Yesica Perdomo, age 20, was charged with robbery and obstructing justice.
Rashad Swain, age 33, and Rahmon Swain, age 30, allegedly set up the illegal gambling operation. Both were charged with tampering with evidence for allegedly removing guns from the hotel room before sheriff’s deputies arrived, the Enquirer said.
If convicted, the Swains face up to six years in prison, according to WXIX, a local TV station. Perdomo faces up to 14 years in prison if found guilty, the report adds.
“This was a bad situation from the start, and sadly, two people died as a result,” Deters told the Enquirer.
Prior Gambling-Related Murders
In an unrelated incident, a man opened fire in October on four players at an alleged illegal gambling den in Brooklyn, NY. One victim died and three others were wounded.
The shooting took place in the back of Brooklyn’s G Spot thrift shop following a fight there, the New York Post said. It is located in the Brownsville neighborhood of the borough.
In October 2019, four people were killed and four others were injured during a dice game-related argument that turned deadly in a New York illegal gambling den, police said.
That shooting took place at Triple A Aces Private & Social Rental Place. It is in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn.
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