NORRISTOWN — A Philadelphia teenager has been arrested on charges related to an Aug. 28 fatal shooting in Pottstown, Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin R. Steele and Pottstown Police Chief Mick Markovich announced.
Jahme Barnes, 17, was being sought for the murder of Dakari Rome and attempted murder of a 17-year-old male, both from Pottstown. U.S. marshals arrested Barnes at a residence on the 2300 block of North Lambert Street in North Philadelphia.
Authorities said that since the warrant was issued for Barnes on Aug. 29, the joint investigation by Pottstown police and Montgomery County detectives discovered cellphone evidence that revealed that the shootings occurred during the commission of a robbery.
Barnes was charged with second-degree murder, robbery and other counts. She was arraigned by Magisterial District Judge Scott T. Palladino and remanded to the Montgomery County Youth Center. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for 11 a.m. on Oct. 18 before Magisterial District Judge Edward C. Kropp Sr.
Authorities previously charged Kahseem Williams, 18, of the 1500 block of West Allegheny Avenue, Philadelphia, with third-degree murder, attempted murder, aggravated assault and other counts in connection with the alleged incident.
Williams was arrested several days after the shooting inside a residence in the Hunting Park section of Philadelphia by U.S. marshals.
Investigators relied on witness statements and video surveillance footage obtained from cameras in the borough to identify the suspects and outline the alleged series of events leading up to the fatal shooting.
The investigation began about 10:06 p.m. Aug. 28 when Pottstown police responded to a call of shots fired in the area of the 100 block of Grant Street and arriving officers observed bloodstains and several fired cartridge casings on Grant Street at Union Alley, according to the criminal complaint filed by county Detective Mark Minzola and Pottstown Detective Michael Glauner.
A 911 caller reported seeing a dark in color SUV parked on Grant Street at Union Alley at the time the gunshots were heard.
Moments later, police were notified that two gunshot victims had been transported to Pottstown Hospital in separate private vehicles. Rome sustained a single gunshot wound to his chest and was pronounced dead by an emergency room doctor.
The investigation determined Rome had been transported to the hospital in his own dark in color SUV. Williams, who left the hospital prior to the arrival of police, left his name and cellphone number with hospital personnel after he assisted Rome into the emergency room, according to the criminal complaint.
The second victim, a 17-year-old male, sustained a single gunshot wound to his left hand and had been transported to the hospital by his mother, detectives said. He was treated for the wound and released.
The 17-year-old victim, who was friends with Rome, told detectives that he received a phone call from Rome asking if he wanted to “hang out with some girls” and that he met up with Rome earlier that evening. The investigation determined Rome and the 17-year-old subsequently were “hanging out” with Williams and Barnes and an unknown female in Rome’s Audi SUV, according to court papers.
The occupants of the Audi eventually traveled to the Gulf Station at High and Adams streets at 9:08 p.m. and later to the area of the 600 block of King Street where they played “Orbeez Guns,” a social media-based challenge where players shoot water beads from airsoft guns, according to the criminal complaint.
When the group finished at the King Street location they traveled to the area of Grant Street and Union Alley, detectives alleged. There, Williams, who was a rear-seat passenger, allegedly produced a handgun and handed it to Barnes who was seated in the driver’s seat. Barnes allegedly waved the firearm around and took videos of herself while she held the gun, according to court papers.
According to court documents, the 17-year-old victim, who was seated in the rear seat on the driver’s side, told Barnes to stop and she pointed the firearm at him. As the 17-year-old victim reached for the firearm Barnes fired a round that struck him in the left hand, detectives alleged.
The fired projectile passed through the 17-year-old victim’s hand and then struck Rome, who was seated in the front passenger seat of the vehicle, striking him in the chest, according to the arrest affidavit.
The 17-year-old victim then fled from the vehicle and ran into Union Alley toward his residence and as he fled he “heard additional shots and saw sparks coming from the ground in the area where he was running,” Minzola and Glauner alleged. Authorities alleged in court papers that once outside the vehicle Barnes handed the firearm to Williams, who fired several shots at the fleeing 17-year-old.
Detectives located four 9mm fired cartridge casings in the street at the intersection of Union Alley and Grant Street, according to court documents.
Detectives alleged Barnes and Williams then got back into the Audi SUV and drove the injured Rome to an emergency room.
An autopsy determined Rome’s cause of death was a gunshot wound to the chest and the manner of death was ruled homicide.
The forensic pathologist who performed the autopsy noted that the bullet entrance was consistent with the bullet having traveled through “an intermediate surface prior to impacting Rome,” according to the criminal complaint. The bullet traveled through Rome’s lung, aorta and lodged in his spine “which would have immediately paralyzed the victim,” detectives wrote in court documents.
Rome’s mother called detectives on Aug. 29 and notified them that someone had returned her son’s vehicle and parked it on Rivendell Lane near her home. Detectives who processed the vehicle observed blood staining on the rear driver’s side seat and door as well as on the passenger side front seat. Detectives also recovered one 9mm fired cartridge casing between the driver’s seat and door, according to court papers.
The detectives’ observations of the recovered evidence located inside Rome’s Audi are consistent with the coroner’s findings that the fired projectile struck an “intermediate surface” prior to impacting Rome, according to the criminal complaint.
Source: Berkshire mont
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