3 juvenile suspects in Kettering fatal shooting to remain in jail

KETTERING — The three juvenile suspects in custody in connection to the shooting death of a 16-year-old Kettering student were in court for a hearing Tuesday.

• Shooting happened at Willowdale Drive and Ackerman Boulevard the night of Sept. 4.
• Ronnie Bowers, 16, died Sept. 6
• Three male suspects, ranging from age 14 to 16, will remain in custody
• 14-year-old suspect has criminal history that dates to 2014

Click here to download our free mobile app for breaking news and news updates

UPDATE @ 6:11 p.m. (Sept. 27)

Three juvenile defendants in the fatal shooting of Fairmont High School junior Ronnie Bowers will remain in custody another month, Montgomery County Juvenile Court Judge Anthony Capizzi ruled Tuesday. The trio’s next court date is scheduled for Oct. 26.

The judge’s ruling came after the lawyer for one of the two 16-year-old suspects asked that his client be put on electronic home detention.

Capizzi told a packed courtroom, which included Bowers’ mother, his decision to continue to detain two 16-year-olds and a 14-year-old suspected in the shooting was “protecting the youth and protecting the community” in a case one defense attorney said may end up in adult court.

“The facts of this case are heinous and this court has to consider that in evaluating the safety of the community and to this youth in the community,” Capizzi said. “There are two ways to look at it. And I’m taking the safe road at this point.”

All three juveniles face felonious assault charges that were filed prior to Bowers’ Sept 6 death. No amended charges had been filed as of Tuesday afternoon, court officials said.

FULL REPORT

Ronnie Bowers, 16, died Sept. 6 after being shot in the back of the head near AlterFest while seeking to leave a dispute in which police said he was “an innocent bystander.”

The juvenile suspects are 16, 16 and 14 years old. The 14-year-old is being charged with a felony in connection with a robbery — and unrelated to the homicide — that occurred Aug. 27 on Brownleigh Road in Kettering, according to court records.

This news organization is not identifying the juveniles by name at this time. There has been no mention of who fired the shot that initially injured Bowers.

A fourth suspect — 18-year-old Miles Heizer — was booked into the Kettering Jail on Sept. 5 on a felonious assault charge. He has since been released pending further investigation, police said.

All of the suspects and the victim are students at Kettering City Schools.

Heizer has a previous charge of felonious assault stemming from a baseball bat attack in March.

Heizer was out on bond at the time of the shooting, stemming from the felonious assault arrest in March. The police report from that incident says he jumped out of a car at a traffic light, walked up to another car and hit a former classmate in the face with a baseball bat.

Judge Capizzi said earlier this month the juveniles will remain in custody until today’s court date because they are “charged with heinous crimes” with a “high-level of notoriety.”

According to the second-degree felony charges, the suspects “knowingly did cause serious physical harm” to Bowers. One of the 16-year-olds also faces a charge of tampering with evidence. He is accused of trying to hide a firearm, Capizzi said.

The coroner's office ruled Bowers' death a homicide. Bowers' mother, Jessica Combs, said her son was an organ donor.

A GoFundMe account set up for the family of Ronnie Bowers has raised more than $16,600 of the $20,000 goal, as of midday Monday.

The shooting occurred at Willowdale Drive and Ackerman Boulevard about 9 p.m. Sept. 4.

Kettering Police Chief Christopher Protsman said the shooting had its roots in a weeks-long dispute between teenagers. Those teens were at Alter High School’s festival, where the issue flared again.

Protsman said one group of four teens drove away, trying to avoid the altercation, but the four suspects followed in another car, eventually blocking them in a driveway on Willowdale Avenue, three blocks from Alter.

Protsman said a physical altercation took place, and Bowers — who was trying to drive away — was shot once in the back of the head. Protsman said Bowers was an innocent bystander who was not involved in the ongoing dispute.

A second person — a female — suffered a minor injury during the shooting that led to Bowers’ death, according to a Kettering police report.

Kettering police have not released the details surrounding that female’s injuries. A bag of marijuana also was seized during the police investigation, the report says.

The shooting came seven months after another Fairmont student, Antoine Jones, was killed in a Trotwood shooting that police said was drug-related.