CINCINNATI — Six people were indicted Monday on charges stemming from a 2019 shootout at a Hampton Inn that left two people, including a teenager, dead.
“This was a shoot-out situation,” said Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters in a news release. “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.”
On the evening of Nov. 1, 2019, Hamilton County Sheriff’s deputies responded to the hotel on Ronald Reagan Drive for a report of a person shot.
Deputies determined that people had rented a room at the hotel for a night of gambling, including craps and betting on a football video game. Several thousand dollars exchanged hands as gambling went on for several hours.
Jay Harris, Marvin Hughes Brown and Taymar Jones arrived at the hotel at 9:40 p.m. and, with guns drawn, attempted to rob the people inside the room. Shots were fired by both parties, investigators said.
Twenty-year-old Jones was killed in the shootout, and 15-year-old JaQuan Howard, one of the gamblers, was killed in the crossfire. Mykell Gamble, who was shot in the foot, was treated at an area hospital and released.
Harris and Hughes now stand charged with two counts of murder, one count of felonious assault, three counts of felony robbery and one count of aggravated burglary. If convicted of all charges, they could face life in prison.
Harris was arrested in Mason on Jan. 5 by U.S. Marshals, and he is currently lodged in Hamilton County Jail.
The prosecutor’s office said Kevin Coes, who had been gambling in the room before the shooting and was later connected to the men who attempted the robbery, has also been indicted in the murders and other offenses. He too faces the possibility of life in prison.
His girlfriend, Yesica Perdomo, stands charged with robbery and obstructing justice.
Rahmon and Rashad Swain, who set up the gambling room, have been charged with tampering with evidence for allegedly removing guns from the hotel room before police arrived.
“This was a bad situation from the start and sadly two people died as a result,” Deters said.
