MIDDLETOWN, Ohio — A fatal shooting at a Middletown residence apparently started as a dispute over $10, according to police and court records.
The man accused of fatally shooting a man in Middletown on Monday night is now in custody, police Major Scott Reeve tells the Journal-News.
Police were called at 7:44 p.m. Monday to the 1400 block of Yankee Road, where they found John Booker, 36, seriously injured from gunfire. He was taken to a local hospital, where he later died.
Detectives were looking for suspect Dhameer Haamid Scott, 24, of Prospect Avenue, all day Tuesday and released his photo asking people to call if they knew his whereabouts. On Wednesday, Scott turned himself into police. He is charged with murder.
A call placed to 911 indicates witnesses at the residence named Scott as the person who shot Booker. A woman reported her son had been shot and was lying in the yard.
“There has been a shooting at my house, I need an ambulance,” the woman told dispatchers. “There was an altercation in the home and he got shot.”
According to police, Booker’s mother, Vicki, and Scott’s father, Desmont Johnson Sr., lived at the Yankee Road address. On Monday, Scott came to the house and dropped off $30 for his younger brother, Desmont Johnson Jr.
When Booker arrived at the house, he took $10 from the cash that was sitting on the shelf, according to Johnson Sr. Booker was told to put the money back but refused, Johnson Sr. told police.
Johnson Sr. called Scott and told him that Booker had taken the money.
“Johnson Sr. advised Dhameer Scott and another friend of Scott’s arrived together (at the residence) and Scott entered the residence with a gun in his hand,” Detective Steve Winters wrote in the court document outlining the charge against Scott.
A verbal altercation began between Scott and Booker then turned physical, police said. That’s when Vicki Booker attempted to intervene, and both left the residence and were fighting on the front porch.
“Johnson Sr. stated he then heard a gunshot, and John Booker screamed out to call the police he had been hit,” according to court documents.
Detectives spoke to Johnson Jr., who said after the shooting he received a call from Scott, who told him he had to shoot Booker, “due to Booker stealing his money,” according to court documents.
The Journal-News is a media partner of WCPO 9 News.
