Left inset: Travon Robinson (Franklin County Sheriff's Office). Right inset: Broderick "BJ" Harper (GoFundMe). Background: Surveillance footage showing Broderick "BJ" Harper riding a scooter with three others in front of the Ohio Statehouse before he was gunned down by Travon Robinson (WBNS/YouTube).
An Ohio teen riding scooters with kids he met on social media was shot and killed by one of them in front of the Ohio Statehouse. The shooter, who was 16 years old at the time and is now 20, pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and was sentenced this week to more than 10 years in prison.
"You don't care if you kill, you don't care if you go to prison," Franklin County Judge Julie Lynch told Travon Robinson during his sentencing Tuesday for the 2022 shooting, according to local CBS affiliate WBNS.
Robinson, whom WBNS described as a friend of victim Broderick "BJ" Harper, allegedly tried to rob Harper on May 29, 2022, while riding electric scooters together, according to prosecutors and Harper's mother, Erica Coit.
"I told him to be careful and that was the last time we text," Coit told WBNS in April 2023 after Robinson was arrested following a nearly yearlong investigation.
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Surveillance video showed four people on scooters, including Harper and Robinson, cruising past the statehouse and stopping just to the left of its front steps. The video shows Harper falling backward after being shot by Robinson, according to police.
Two people can be seen running away from the scene and a third person riding away on a scooter, WBNS reported. Police identified one as Robinson, who refused to speak or apologize at his sentencing.
"There's a lack of remorse and there's a lack of accountability," Franklin County prosecutor Chris Clark told the court Tuesday. "When you factor in that and then you look at his record … in juvenile court, just constantly in and out on charges ranging from stolen cars to guns to robbery, he is a threat to the community."
Harper's father, who attended the sentencing and spoke to WBNS, said Robinson being remorseful "wouldn't have mattered" — he doesn't forgive the young man for what happened.
"Nope, not at all," said Broderick Harper Sr. "The sorry, a tear, anything like that wouldn't have mattered. We all knew that there was not gonna be no type of remorse at all."
Lynch scolded Robinson in court for his "demeanor," telling him "you don't care" about the outcome of the case and his actions.
"You don't care what happens," Lynch repeated. "We're supposed to say, 'They're only children.' They're not children. You put a gun in someone's hand and you are no longer a child. You're a threat."
Robinson was initially booked on murder and weapons charges after a mandatory bind over to adult court in April 2023, according to online records. He pleaded guilty in September to involuntary manslaughter with a gun specification and was sentenced to a term of 14 to 19 years in prison Tuesday, with credit given for two years that Robinson already spent behind bars.