FAIRFIELD, Ohio — A 16-year-old West Chester girl is charged with murder for her alleged role in a deadly shooting last month at a Fairfield hotel.
Fairfield police say the teen conspired with an accomplice, who was killed in the incident, to steal a firearm from occupants of a room at the Holiday Inn Express.
During the alleged robbery, 18-year-old Kaaree Wade Hipsher-Burton of Cincinnati was shot and found dead during the early morning hours of Oct. 2 in a second-floor hotel hallway, according to police.
Butler County Prosecutor Michael Gmoser said the person who fired the shot that killed Hipsher-Burton was acting in self-defense.
“It was self-defense by the guy trying to protect his property and family with a gun pointed at him,” Gmoser said. “She (the teen girl) let the wolf in the door and she is chargeable for being complicit in a crime that got her conspirator killed.”
According to the arrest report, the shooter “informed the accomplice in the criminal activity of the room number and number of occupants, with the intent to commit the theft of a firearm.”
In addition to murder, the teen is charged with robbery and burglary and is being held in the Butler County Juvenile Detention Center.
Fairfield police and fire crews were dispatched at 5:23 a.m. Oct. 2 to the hotel on Fairfield Business Center Drive, where Hipsher-Burton was found dead.
A hotel employee called 911, saying that “someone tried to rob one of my guests, and they’re upstairs on the second floor.”
The attempted robbery victim then got on the phone call and told dispatchers that Hipsher-Burton, whom he did not know, displayed a handgun and told the man, his brother and nephew to get on the floor. The man said he reached for his own firearm and fired at the 18-year-old, striking him in the torso.
“I shot him,” he said. “I was sleeping, and he woke me up.”
The victim said he was protecting his brother and nephew. Hipsher-Burton wore a red ski mask and black jacket and carried a purse, according to the man.
“He brought it out, he pointed at us; it looked like it was a Glock or something,” the attempted robbery victim told the dispatcher. “He said he was about to shoot, and I shot real quick.”
After the man shot Hipsher-Burton, he told dispatchers he “ran. I ran to the (front) desk,” adding he had a panic attack after the shooting. “I got scared.”
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