Insets from left: Antawan Benson and Javen Conner (Montgomery County Prosecutor's Office) and Isabella Carlos (Pryor Funeral Home). Background: The home in Dayton, Ohio, where Isabella was shot to death (WKEF).
A 24-year-old Ohio man is headed to prison for more than six decades for his role in shooting up a trio of homes, killing a sleeping 12-year-old girl, over a social media post.
Antawan Benson was sentenced Monday to 67 years in prison for the shooting death of 7th grader Isabella Carlos last year in Dayton, the Montgomery County Prosecutor's Office said.
Benson and his brother, Javen Conner, were convicted earlier this month in separate trials on charges including murder, discharging a firearm into a habitation, felonious assault and aggravated menacing.
According to prosecutors, Benson and Conner approached a woman in her car in Trotwood on Aug. 22, 2024, to confront her about a social media post involving their cousin. There was another woman and children present in the car.
Hours later, around 12:30 a.m. on Aug. 23, 2024, the brothers riddled three homes with bullets fired from an AK-47 and AR-15. Inside one of the houses was Isabella, who was sleeping in her bed.
Police responded to the home and first responders pronounced Isabella dead at the scene.
The brothers were indicted roughly two weeks after the shooting.
Judge Gerald Parker wanted Benson to know Isabella, who went by Bella, likely did not die instantly after being shot.
"It's just gut-wrenching to try and comprehend the last few moments of Bella's life," Parker said, according to a courtroom report from Dayton-based ABC affiliate WKEF. "The testimony was she actually had moved from where she was sleeping. She was found half on the bed, half off the bed, which means she suffered, she struggled whether it was for a couple minutes. I hope you understand that."
Parker lamented the fact that Benson and Conner posted on Facebook a photo of the empty clips from their weapons after the shooting. The judge called it a "sense of false bravado."
"Y'all soft, all of y'all are weak. All of y'all soft in those pictures," he said, per local CBS affiliate WHIO.
Isabella's obituary called her a "beautiful and intelligent young lady." Her aunt Donnetta Dewberry spoke at the sentencing hearing about the impact Isabella's death has had on her family.
"My niece was laying there sleeping, getting ready for school the next day. We will never get to [see] Bella go to prom, her first love, her first date, anything," said Dewberry.
She added: "You and your brother did somethin' that will never be able to be taken back. Never be able to be taken back. I feel bad for your family. I feel bad for you, and I ask God to have mercy on you and your life."
Conner is slated to be sentenced on Jan. 8.
Comments