YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) — A 17-year-old was arraigned Thursday in Mahoning County Juvenile Court on charges he robbed one of the five people who were shot in the same attack that killed a 4-year-old Struthers boy.
Magistrate Karen Malone entered a plea of denial, or the juvenile equivalent of not guilty, for Brandon Crump, who is charged with aggravated robbery with a firearm specification.
The Mahoning County Prosecutor’s Office is requesting a preliminary hearing for Crump to determine if he can be transferred to an adult court. No date on that hearing has been set yet.
Crump was arraigned via phone because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Crump was arrested Wednesday on South Pearl Street in Youngstown by members of the U.S. Marshals Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force. Marshals reported finding three guns in the home at the time of Crump’s arrest and said he tried to run away.
Magistrate Malone ruled that Crump remain in detention pending a hearing within the next seven to 10 days to rule on a request by prosecutors to have his case transferred to common pleas court.
Crump is charged with using a .45-caliber handgun Sept. 21 to rob one of the four people who were shot in the same attack that killed Rowan Sweeney, 4, at the Perry Street home of his mother’s in Struthers.
Police said Sweeney was killed during a robbery of Yarnell Green, one of the victims who had just received a stimulus check. That is the person Crump is accused of robbing.
Kimonie Bryant, 24, turned himself in to Struthers police for the murder and shootings and was indicted by a grand jury on charges of aggravated murder and four counts of attempted murder as well as aggravated robbery. He could face the death penalty if convicted.
Crump has not been charged with Sweeney’s death or shooting anyone else that morning.
Police have not said how they were able to determine Crump was at the crime scene.
