A half a year after a gun was fired inside a Target café in Owings Mills, police today announced they’ve indicted five people, including the man who authorities say was set up to be robbed in a meet-up there.
The most serious charges apply to 19-year-old Kaneil Krashawn Vaughn, of Owings Mills, who police say fired a gun inside the store’s coffee shop area at around 5:40 p.m. on March 12. He’s charged with attempted first-degree murder, first-degree assault and assorted gun offenses, and is being held without bail.
Three others—23-year-old Deion Larmont Petty and 21-year-old Elexis Milahn Turner, both of Baltimore, and 26-year-old Ronald Anthony Williams, of Owings Mills—are charged with robbery, conspiracy to commit robbery, second-degree assault and misdemeanor theft. Petty and Williams remain detained without bail. Turner posted bail Aug. 21 and was released.
A fifth suspect, 22-year-old Travonne Jamal Smith, of Gwynn Oak, is charged with obstructing and hindering an investigation and making a false statement to an officer. He posted bond and was released in late August.
The police narrative of what happened: Smith put an item—police aren’t divulging what it was so as not to “compromise the integrity of the prosecution of the case,” said Officer Jennifer Peach, a department spokeswoman—up for sale on the web marketplace OfferUp. Turner expressed interest and they met up at Target to make the exchange.
But Turner was actually conspiring with Petty, her boyfriend, and Williams to rob Smith, who in turn brought Vaughn as backup. The result was chaotic. While Smith and Turner were talking at a table, Petty “approached and grabbed Smith from behind,” police said. Vaughn saw and fired a single shot, which struck a wall behind Smith and Petty.
Williams, who police say was monitoring the meet-up from another area nearby, then ran up and, with Petty, allegedly began punching and kicking Smith. Vaughn fled, and Turner took Smith’s phone and the item he’d been selling and ran away with her alleged co-conspirators, police said. Smith ran away as well.
The department identified Williams and Smith as participants in the kerfuffle in June, after sharing stills from security footage, and announced Turner, Vaughn and Petty as suspects today.
While police say Smith was the target of the alleged robbery, he’s been indicted for giving officers an incorrect name for the shooter during questioning. Peach said the person he named was real and not simply a made-up name, but was “completely unassociated” with the incident. They were also able to confirm through witness account that that individual wasn’t actually Smith’s friend, she said.
“For him to give us the name of another human being, clearly he knew that he was doing it intentionally,” she said.
Smith’s jury trial is set for Nov. 15, court records show. His attorney, Baltimore County District Public Defender Donald Zaremba, was out of the office Monday and has not returned a message requesting comment.
Vaughn’s trial is scheduled for Dec. 10. He did not have an attorney listed with his name in court records.
Petty is due to be arraigned Oct. 9. He also did not have an attorney listed with his name.
Turner’s trial has not been scheduled, and her attorney, Christopher Wheatcroft, was out of the office Monday and has not responded to a message requesting comment.
Williams’ trial has also not been scheduled, and he doesn’t have an attorney listed in court records.
