(ProsperNews.net) – Police arrested three teenagers in December for the murder of a father at a shopping outlet in Ohio. The incident happened at the Great Southern Shopping Center in Columbus on December 6 and caused the death of Donnie Smith Jr., a father of three, two weeks later. Mr. Smith was thrown to the ground and kicked and punched by three teenagers who witnesses say were laughing as they carried out the deadly assault.
Dionta Davon Hughes, who is 18, was arrested along with 19-year-old Jamarion Fredrae Evans-Bennett and a 17-year-old unnamed male on December 20. Charging documents reveal that the three allegedly waited for Smith outside a Kroger outlet following an altercation with him inside. The attack ended when an armed passer-by pulled a weapon on the assailants, who then fled but were identified by police following a review of the center’s CCTV footage.
Nicole Evans, the mother of Smith’s children and his partner of 20 years, described him as an amazing person. “He was a great father. He loved his kids. They were his world,” she said. Evans described the killing as a “random act of violence” and said, “I don’t know how anyone could do that to a human being.”
The two adult suspects are held in Franklin County jail on a $1 million bond while a decision is made on whether to charge the third underage suspect as an adult – an issue that divides Americans, according to data from 2023.
A poll on crime and punishment conducted last October shows that public sympathy with young criminals has increased, and most people think the courts should show leniency. In 2023, 47% of Americans said violent teenagers should be punished by youth rather than adult courts, compared to just 24% in 2000. Attitudes differ between Republicans and Democrats, with 61% of Democrat voters saying youth offenders should be treated as children, while 59% of Republicans say they should be tried as adults.
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