MESSAGE FROM PROSECUTOR SHERRI BEVAN WALSH

Contact:  April Wiesner

(330) 643-8386

El-Jones Receives Life in Prison

(September 14, 2011… Akron) … Summit County Prosecutor Sherri Bevan Walsh announced today that Elohim El-Jones, 26, of Jason Avenue in Akron was sentenced by Judge Elinore Stormer to life in prison with the eligibility for parole after 33 years for his role in the death of Michael Kirksey.

El-Jones shot and killed Michael Kirksey after the two were involved in a fight at the Chapel Hill Mall. The night after the fight, El-Jones walked with a female friend to the home of Nerieda Riley, Kirksey’s aunt and the godmother of the friend’s sister. After confirming from the female friend that Kirksey was inside the house, El-Jones fired a gun through the window of the apartment. Kirksey was shot multiple times and died shortly thereafter at the hospital. Riley was also shot, but she survived.

After the shooting, El-Jones ran to a neighbor’s house and asked for a ride to the hospital, claiming he had been shot. Before arriving at any hospital, El-Jones confessed he had not been shot and ran off. He was a fugitive until January 2011.

A jury found El-Jones guilty on September 2 of the following counts:

·                     Aggravated Murder, with a three-year gun specification

·                     Murder, with a three-year gun specification

·                     Two counts of Felonious Assault, with a three-year gun specification

·                     Weapons Under Disability

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