Four of six in fatal robbery plead guilty
Group botched plot to steal money, drugs, court records show
Details of a 2016 plot to steal marijuana that turned deadly emerged in court records with the recent guilty pleas of four of the six people accused in the crime.
Originally, all six suspects were charged with capital murder. In September, Jai “Taco” Lynn Jamal Arnold and Jason Marino, both 20, pleaded to a reduced count of murder. Gabrielle “Gabby” Nicole Brightman, 20, and Jamarr “Yoshi” Harrison-McNeil, 25, pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of aggravated robbery, court records show.
Ethan Yoast, 20, had his trial date reset. The status of a juvenile also charged in the incident was not immediately available.
Bexar County Sheriff’s Office investigators said the group — all but one of the participants teens — hatched the scheme to rob two brothers at 10 p.m. at PURE View at TPC, 4092 TPC Parkway, on Oct. 9, 2016.
The group had been plotting the robbery outside the Encino Library, less than 5 miles away from the apartments, according to court records.
A juvenile girl with the group told investigators that she knew of two residents of the PURE complex who had drugs and where their apartment was located.
Both Brightman and the girl admitted to spraying a dark coating over cameras monitoring that part of the complex before the group walked up to the fifth floor. Arnold, Marino, Yoast and Harrison-McNeil were wearing hoods and bandanas to hide their identities, records show.
Four men, including two brothers who lived at the apartment, were inside when the group ap-
proached the door.
Brightman knocked on the door. When it opened, Arnold, Marino, HarrisonMcNeil and Yoast rushed into the apartment, according to records.
Other residents at the complex heard the intruders ordering the apartment’s occupants to get down on the ground.
One of the brothers was standing on the balcony when the four intruders entered his apartment. He heard the group’s demands for drugs moments before shots were fired, according to court records.
Milton Ray Miles, 37, had been at the brothers’ apartment to watch a basketball game.
He had tried pushing the men back before he was overwhelmed by the group, court records stated.
As two people were told to lie on the ground, Marino told deputies he pistolwhipped an occupant of the apartment as he began looking at him.
Investigators said that although the group’s intention was to rob the apartment’s residents, they would end up fatally shooting Miles.
Yoast told deputies he fired one shot while Arnold fired two shots as they left, according to court records.
Miles was hit twice in the back as he lay on the ground and died at the scene. Deputies said it appeared he had tried standing up when he was hit.
The brother on the balcony told investigators that he scaled down to the fourthfloor terrace as the shooting occurred. As the group left the apartment, he could see the people getting in their cars. He said he recognized the girl in the group as a friend of Brightman’s.
The group then split into two and left in separate vehicles. The driver of one vehicle told deputies she heard Yoast and HarrisonMcNeil talking after the incident. One person said “Why did you shoot him? It didn’t have to be like that, we just needed to get the money,” according to court records.
The witness heard Yoast ask Harrison McNeil, “Are you proud of me?” to which he answered, “No.”
Marino and Yoast were arrested a day after the shooting and identified Arnold and Harrison-McNeil via their nicknames.
Deputies then used their nicknames to find their true identities on social media.
Sentencing for Arnold and Marino is scheduled for Dec. 27 in the 227th District Court.
Harrison-McNeil and Brightman are set to be sentenced Jan. 22.