Shots fired at relatives leaving funeral for Dayton boy, 14; Driver gets jail time

Montgomery County Common Pleas Courtroom. JIM NOELKER/STAFF FILE

Credit: JIM NOELKER

Credit: JIM NOELKER

Montgomery County Common Pleas Courtroom. JIM NOELKER/STAFF FILE

The driver of a vehicle that followed family members leaving a funeral for a 14-year-old homicide victim whose passenger shot at them avoids prison but will spend time in jail.

Thomas Michael Peck Jr., 20, was sentenced Monday by Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Timothy O’Connell to 180 days in jail plus five years of probation with intensive supervision, according to the Montgomery County Prosecutor’s Office.

Peck pleaded guilty last month to a lesser included offense of attempted felonious assault. Originally charged with felonious assault, Peck had faced up to three years in prison, according to court documents.

His co-defendant, Daviontay Maurice Travis Hunter, 21, pleaded guilty last month to felonious assault. O’Connell immediately sentenced him to two to three years in prison.

Daviontay Hunter, left, and Thomas Peck Jr.

Credit: Montgomery County Jail

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Credit: Montgomery County Jail

Hunter and Peck had been scheduled to be tried together and Peck’s attorney filed a motion to sever their trials. However, Hunter reached a plea agreement six days after the motion was filed so O’Connell ruled the motion moot, according to court documents. Peck reached a plea deal soon after the ruling.

Dayton police were dispatched around 4:50 p.m. March 25 to the 1500 block of Watson Street for a report of shots fired.

Three people said their vehicle was shot four times when they left the funeral for family member Corey Prater while they were followed by a Chrysler 300. Peck was the driver who was accompanied by Hunter, according to an affidavit filed in Dayton Municipal Court.

“Witnesses identified Mr. Peck and Mr. Hunter as the individuals who shot at (the) vehicle, which was occupied at the time of the shooting,” the document stated.

It is not clear whether the shots fired incident was connected to the deadly shooting nearly two weeks earlier.

Prater and 17-year-old Javonta Morgan were shot and killed the evening of March 14 in the 1600 block of Miami Chapel Road, near Louise Troy Elementary School, during a fight involving a group of boys, a 911 caller reported.

A 14-year-old boy is facing murder charges in Montgomery County Juvenile Court. The Dayton Daily News is not naming him because his case is not in adult court.

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