Third man arrested, charged in drive-by shooting death of 9-year-old Cincinnati girl

SILVERTON — A third man has been formally charged in the drive-by shooting death of a 9-year-old Cincinnati girl who was in her grandmother’s home Monday night in Silverton, a suburban village north of Cincinnati, when she was hit by gunfire.

>> Drive-by shooting that killed Cincinnati girl was retaliation, prosecutor says

“All three of these individuals are in custody and all three of these individuals are considered cowards,” Hamilton County Sheriff Charmaine McGuffey said at a news conference Thursday.

Here’s the latest on the investigation from the news conference, published via social media, and reporting from our news partner, WCPO.com:

Ryan Brown, 27, is the third man arrested, charged with aggravated murder for his role in the death of Da’Myiah Barton-Pickens. According to Hamilton County prosecutors, Brown was allegedly robbed by a relative of the girl. He recruited one of the co-defendants to drive to the grandmother’s home where they fired at least 28 rounds at her house in retaliation of the supposed robbery.

One of those bullets entered the home and hit the girl, who died at a hospital.

Brown was arrested Thursday afternoon. McGuffey said he turned himself in, but noted that police investigators had conducted surveillance that included the use of drones on suspects they believed were involved in the drive-by shooting.

Qasseem Dixon, 25, was the man Brown is accused of recruiting to do the shooting. Dixon was the first man arrested. He entered a courtroom on crutches for his arraignment. He, too, is charged with aggravated murder. Dixon also faces a charge of having weapons as a felon. According to court documents, Dixon was seen a day after the shooting “through surveillance by Hamilton County Sheriff’s detectives” in possession of a Draco AK-47 rifle with a fully loaded magazine. His bond is $2.5 million.

Demario Williams, 22, who was allegedly driving a car that crashed Tuesday as he and Dixon tried to elude capture. Williams ran from that crash but was captured, the sheriff said. He is in jail on a charge of carrying a concealed weapon, but prosecutors said a grand jury may choose to add charges tied to fleeing from law enforcement. His bond is $100,000.

At his arraignment, Williams’ attorney said his client was “not involved at all” in the shooting, wcpo.com reported.

McGuffey, at the news conference, said, “[Williams is] a person who became involved in this situation by way of trying to help conceal this crime.”

Also during the news conference, McGuffey said she couldn’t say for sure whether a robbery was the crux of the retaliation, but believed it may also have been drug related based on the alleged offenders’ criminal histories with substances.

“Regardless of what motive was, it is absolutely not acceptable to act in this way. . . . You don’t go out and shoot a 9-year-old innocent girl,” she said.

McGuffey would not say who the intended target may have been. She also did not give details about that person’s relationship to the family inside the home in Silverton. She did state that during the shooting, the only people in the house was one woman and two children — one of whom was Barton-Pickens.

McGuffey said to her knowledge, the person targeted was not in the house when the shots were fired. She also said investigators have determined that the AK rifle officers seized was used in the drive-by. Shell casings from more than one gun were found at the house, she said, noting that two other firearms were recovered and are being tested.

She praised the community for its role in the investigation of the drive-by shooting.

“The community is cooperating — they’re cooperating with us, they’re talking to us, they’re telling us what you’re doing and we are gonna continue to protect that community and protect that information, and when people see something they are trusting us to tell us and that is why we’ve got these men in custody,” McGuffey said.

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