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Warren man guilty in shooting of girl, 9

By Chris McBride 2 min read

WARREN -- A potential 82-year sentence hangs over the head of a 22-year-old Warren man who pleaded guilty Thursday to charges related to a shooting in which a stray bullet struck a child.

Sayquan Parks pleaded guilty Thursday in a Trumbull County Common Pleas court to eight felony counts. They include five second-degree felonious assault counts; two counts improper discharge of a firearm at or into habitation and one count of improperly handling a firearm in a motor vehicle.

Parks also pleaded guilty to seven firearm specifications that carry mandatory prison terms, prosecutors said.

Trumbull Common Pleas Judge Ronald Rice has the option of sentencing Parks to a maximum of 82 1/2 years. The defendant will undergo a background investigation before sentencing.

Bond was revoked and the judge said the defendant must pay restitution sought by the victims.

The plea agreement heads off a jury trial scheduled to take place in Rice's court next month.

Parks fired 23 shots from a Glock 19 semiautomatic handgun shortly after midnight June 18 outside the Big Apple Supermarket off Youngstown Road SE in Warren.

Police were called to the 800 block of Kenilworth Avenue SE, where a 9-year-old girl, A'Kasha Taylor-Robinson, was hit by one of the bullets that went through the walls of the house where she was sleeping.

A'Kasha was asleep on a couch while her mother Misti Taylor, and her sisters, ages 14 and 4, were watching television.

"We heard what sounded like fireworks," Taylor said.

"Next thing we know, things start flying through our walls, my 14-year-old grabbed my 4-year-old daughter and threw her on the ground and she got on top of her. Then, when I got up to go toward A'Kasha, it was too late."

The damage from the bullet shattered the bone in her arm. She was treated at Akron Children's Hospital.

Stray bullets also entered another Kenilworth Avenue SE home, barely missing occupants inside, and a vehicle in the parking lot of Big Apple, narrowly missing the driver, according to reports.

At the time of the shooting, Trumbull County Assistant Prosecutor Michael Burnett said Park's intended target was a man he had encountered inside the convenience store.

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