Trial starts in Dunkin’ Donut shooting death
WEST CHESTER » It has been almost three years since a Phoenixville Area High School student was fatally shot during a marijuana deal gone bad outside a Dunkin’ Donuts in the borough.
On Monday, two of the men involved in the homicide, including the gunman, went on trial for the murder.
Jason Ortiz-Cameron, who was 15 years old and a freshman at the school when he and a friend went to the fast-food restaurant as a part of a reported marijuana transaction, was shot once in the head by a Philadelphia man he did not know while they struggled as the man allegedly tried to take a bag of the drug the youth had in his jacket. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
At the time, his death was met by shock.
“(A) life lost too soon due to gun violence,” said his cousin, Chiniqua Conley, who organized a fundraiser to help the family with expenses related to his death. “I never thought in a million years I would have to attend the funeral of my little cousin that I didn’t get to see develop and grow. Distance separated us but my heart is always with you.”
Likewise, Phoenixville Police Chief Tom Sjostrom expressed his sorrow over the death. “The senseless murder of a 15-year-old boy was the result of a petty drug deal gone awry,” Sjostrom said in a statement after the crime. “It is a tragedy that reinforces the dangers of all illegal drug use in our community.”
A jury that will decide the fate of two of the three people arrested and charged with Ortiz-Cameron’s death was chosen Monday for the trial that is expected to last the rest of this week in front of Common Pleas Court Judge Allison Bell Royer.
The defendants include the man who allegedly fired the fatal shot and the man who drove the car away from the scene after OrtizCameron slumped to the ground, fatally wounded.
Those accused are Brian Keith “Redz” Corsey, the alleged gunman, and John “Gotti” Ortiz-Carr, who had gone along to the doughnut shop with Corsey and the third defendant, Robert McCoy III. According to authorities, it was McCoy who had put together the idea of robbing the people who were set to sell them some marijuana on a December night in 2017.
Corsey, 26, of Philadelphia, is facing charges of first-degree murder, thirddegree murder, robbery, and conspiracy, while Ortiz-Carr is charged with second-degree murder, thirddegree murder, robbery and conspiracy. Both men face the possibility of being sentenced to a mandatory life behind bars without parole if convicted of the most serious counts against them.
Ortiz-Carr, 27, of Pottstown, is charged with second-degree murder even though he did not fire the fatal shots, because the prosecution alleges he knew about and participated in the robbery that led to Ortiz-Cameron’s death. Anyone who commits a felony during a homicide can be convicted of second-degree murder, although Pennsylvania’s punishment for the crime, life in prison, has come under attack in recent years.
The third man involved, McCoy, 24, also of Pottstown, pleaded guilty to charges of third-degree murder in January 2019. He has not yet been sentenced, and is expected to testify at trial as part of his agreement with the prosecution.
According to court documents in the case, on Dec. 27, 2017, McCoy set up a drug transaction with a man he knew in Phoenixville, Thomas Farrell, according to the facts of the case as laid out for Royer during McCoy’s plea proceeding by Deputy District Attorney Carlos Barraza, who is prosecuting the case along with Assistant District Attorney John McCaul.
Before going to Phoenixville to complete the buy, McCoy met with Corsey and Ortiz-Carr to discuss robbing Farrell of whatever marijuana he had on him at the time of the deal.
Corsey agreed to let McCoy use his 2007 black Ford Focus, and the three drove from Pottstown, where McCoy and Ortiz-Carr lived, to Phoenixville. McCoy drove, while Ortiz-Carr was the front passenger and Corsey was in the back seat.
One there, they met with Farrell and Ortiz-Cameron at the Dunkin’ Donuts in the 200 block of Nutt Road. The trio first circled the shop’s parking lot to make sure they were not being followed. Corsey tried to get Farrell and Ortiz-Cameron to get inside the car, but the two refused and walked away after showing Corsey the marijuana they had on them.
At some point, Corsey got out of the car, as did McCoy. Corsey confronted Ortiz-Cameron while the other man went to speak with McCoy at the side of the car. The two squared off to fight as McCoy told Farrell, “You don’t want to go over there,” meaning toward where Corsey and Ortiz-Cameron were standing.
Corsey then pulled out a small semi-automatic handgun, cocked it, pointed it at Ortiz-Cameron and began to rifle through the teenager’s pockets. He then fired a single shot and Ortiz-Cameron fell to the ground, mortally wounded.