4 men in West Chester shooting charged with murder

Grand jury indicts men in Jan. 13 slaying of 18-year-old Tyler Kassow

Four men charged in connection with a fatal shooting of a West Chester Twp. teen have been indicted by a Butler County grand jury and now face murder charges.

Jibril Willingham, 20, Rodney Foster, 19, both of Springdale; Demarcus Staley, 19, of Woodlawn; and Justin Koch, 18, of Sharonville, were arrested last week and booked into the Butler County Jail. Willingham, Foster and Koch are charged with complicity to aggravated burglary and complicity to murder. Staley, the alleged gunman, was charged with aggravated burglary and murder.

On Thursday, the grand jury returned charges of murder, kidnapping, aggravated burglary, two counts of aggravated robbery and two counts of tampering with evidence against all four men.

The men are being held in the Butler County Jail in lieu of $1 million bond each. They are scheduled to be arraigned on the new indictments at 11 a.m. Monday in Butler County Common Pleas Judge Keith Spaeth’s courtroom.

The charges stem from the shooting of Tyler Kassow, 18, at 3:30 p.m. Jan. 13 at 9393 Cincinnati Columbus Road. Kassow’s death marked the first homicide of 2016 in West Chester Twp.

West Chester Police Chief Joel Herzog said last week that the fatal shooting wasn’t a random incident. The chief said he would not disclose any details about the gun used in the crime, the circumstances of the robbery, or the relationship between the suspects and the victim.

Staley and Foster, who were wearing ski masks, forced their way into the residence at gunpoint when Kassow’s brother opened the door, Herzog said. A scuffle ensued and Kassow was shot once in the head as his brother and two other juveniles watched, the chief said.

Staley and Foster fled the scene along with Koch and Willingham, who were waiting in a nearby car, reportedly a dark blue Mazda Protégé with tinted windows, police said.

Kassow was taken by ambulance to West Chester Hospital, then flown by medical helicopter to University of Cincinnati Medical Center, but he eventually died.

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