Boy, 15, sentenced to 3 years in shooting

7/3/2013

A 15-year-old Toledo boy was sentenced Tuesday to spend three years in a state detention facility for shooting and injuring another Toledo teen in June.

Deshawn Woods received the sentence in Lucas County juvenile court after pleading delinquent to felonious assault with a gun specification last month.

The Woods youth received two years for the gun specification – the maximum was three – and one year for felonious assault for the June 8 shooting of Kevion Jones, 16, at East Bancroft and Cherry Streets.

The Jones youth was shot in a shoulder and his abdomen after the Jones youth allegedly physically assaulted the Woods youth.

“It's amazing to me that, at 15, you are using a gun against somebody like that,” said juvenile court Judge Connie Zemmelman. “I understand that they may have aggravated you, and I can understand that if you were so aggravated at 15 you may not think clearly and you may hurt him, but not with a gun. You know better than that.

“And I have no tolerance for guns. Too many of our kids here have been either killed or sent to prison because of these stupid guns,” the judge said.

Prior to the sentencing, Assistant Prosecutor Lori Olender, who oversees the juvenile division, said the Woods youth was considered “high risk” to offend again.

Ms. Olender also said the Jones youth was having “a lot of difficulties” because of the gunshot wound to his abdomen.

Ms. Olender decided to not file adult certification for the Woods youth in part because the Jones family asked her not to and because the suspect agreed to plead to the charges.

The teen's probation officer John Flowers said he feared for the safety of the Woods youth when he is released from the Department of Youth Services because posts about retaliation were already on Facebook.

Judge Zemmelman ordered that the gun used in the shooting be destroyed.