WILMINGTON — Three suspects who were arrested less than 24 hours after a fatal shooting made their first court appearances at an arraignment Thursday morning in Clinton County Municipal Court.
In court via video conference were: Christian Lee Terry, 22, of Wilmington; Kevin Lane Noe Jr., 21, of Wilmington; and Corey Joseph Ruffner, 22, of Wilmington.
Bond was set at $1 million for each of them.
Later on Thursday, around mid-evening, police SWAT activity and possible shots fired were reported in a section of Xenia in Greene County, where local residents were reportedly being told to shelter in place.
Wilmington police had stated Wednesday that a Xenia man was a person of interest in the fatal shooting; at presstime it wasn’t known if the Xenia incident was related to the Wilmington incident.
At Thursday’s arraignment, all three suspects gave brief comments to Judge Mike Daugherty before bond was set. Noe told the court he misses his family, and Terry said he misses his child and that he has another one on the way.
Ruffner was hoping for a lower bond when he told Daugherty this was his first offense, but Daugherty wasn’t swayed.
Ruffner’s mother, Kelly, told the court she has no one else to help her with taking care of sick relatives and she was hoping Ruffner could be let out with a monitoring device.
Daugherty expressed that due to the severity of the charge, he could not release Ruffner.
A preliminary hearing for the three is set for 11 a.m. Monday.
The incident took place just after 8:30 p.m. Tuesday in a parking lot of Brownberry Drive. Wilmington police officers were first on the scene at approximately 8:40 p.m. on a report of gunfire.
The victim was Layne Eugene Hall, 23, of Blanchester, who died of a gunshot wound to the upper chest.
Court documents show that the victim and three suspects allegedly rode in a car together to meet someone at the Brownberry Apartments parking lot; soon after the four arrived, the person they were to meet pulled up in a car, and shortly after that is when gunfire was heard.
A good samaritan later found a cell phone that belonged to Hall and turned it in to police; it allegedly shows text messages between Hall and the man they were to meet shortly beforehand.
One person was still listed as a person of interest, police said Wednesday morning.
Anyone with further information on this case are still asked to call WPD at 937-382-TIPS. Police stated earlier that local residents’ tips have been invaluable to the investigation.
