Two Erie men accused by police of trying to kill four people, including three uniformed officers, during a reported robbery and a police pursuit that followed it in the city in June 2022 are now facing trial on a host of criminal charges.
Rakeem M. Jones, 30, and Shadarryl P. Jones, 30, were each held for court late Thursday afternoon on charges including attempted homicide, conspiracy to commit homicide and robbery in a reported robbery and shooting outside of the Sacred Heart Ushers Club on West 26th Street shortly before 1:30 a.m. on June 25, 2022.
Rakeem Jones was also held for court Thursday on charges including three counts of attempted homicide in a police pursuit on Chestnut Street immediately following the robbery in which authorities said gunshots were fired at two Pennsylvania State Police troopers and an Erie police officer who pursued a fleeing vehicle Jones was in.
Shadarryl Jones was previously held for court on attempted homicide and other charges in the police pursuit and shooting following his preliminary hearing in October 2022.
Both men fled the area after the shootings. Shadarryl Jones was apprehended in Mercer County in July 2022 and is currently in prison on $1.1 million in bonds. Rakeem Jones was apprehended in Georgia in November and is in prison on $1.5 million in bonds.
Police pursuit and shooting
In the pursuit and shooting case, Erie County Chief Deputy District Attorney Steven Liboski presented testimony from two state police troopers and an Erie police officer and aired dash camera video of the incident during Thursday's preliminary hearing before Erie 6th Ward District Judge Timothy Beveridge.
According to police, two state police troopers spotted a vehicle speeding north on Chestnut Street on the early morning of June 25, 2022, and began pursuing it. Investigators said the fleeing vehicle stopped in the 2300 block of Chestnut Street, someone got out of it and gunshots were fired at the troopers. One of the troopers returned fire before the suspect who shot got back into his vehicle and it fled north, police reported.
No one was shot during the exchange.
An Erie police officer on patrol spotted the fleeing vehicle and followed it into the 1600 block of Chestnut Street, where it struck a parked vehicle and the occupants shot at the Erie police officer, hitting his patrol vehicle but not injuring him, investigators said. The suspects then ran off.
Prior robbery
An Erie police detective sergeant testified under questioning by Liboski that he was called in to assist in the pursuit and shooting investigation when he learned of a reported robbery and shooting outside the Sacred Heart Ushers Club.
The male victim testified Thursday that he had gone to the club with others as they celebrated a relative's birthday, and he went outside to get a pool cue from his vehicle when he was hit in the head by something and blanked out. He said he didn't see who hit him and remembered only waking up.
The man testified that he was missing some money and his necklaces were gone, but he does not remember seeing anyone in the area. He also said he heard a noise that possibly woke him up after he blacked out.
But investigators wrote in the criminal complaints filed against Rakeem and Shadarryl Jones days after the incident that the victim told them he was robbed at gunpoint by two individuals who went through his pockets and took cash and two gold chains he was wearing around his neck. Detectives also wrote that the victim told them that as the suspects were running away, one fired a gunshot in his direction and he thought he was being killed when he heard the shot.
Liboski played a series of surveillance video clips from the Sacred Heart Ushers Club, and the detective sergeant identified individuals in the footage that he said were Rakeem and Shadarryl Jones and the victim. The video also showed evidence of a gunshot being fired, the detective sergeant said.
Contact Tim Hahn at thahn@timesnews.com. Follow him on X @ETNhahn.
Most Popular
Comments / 0