Five months after a shooting in the parking lot of a Walmart on Ferguson Road killed 24-year-old Jamontea Brown, authorities have indicted a suspect but have not yet arrested him.
On Wednesday, Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters revealed that Josiah Hassell had been indicted on one count of aggravated murder, two counts of murder, and two counts of felonious assault.
But even so, Deters stated that Hassell’s whereabouts are unknown and that he has not yet been arrested.
If convicted on all charges, Hassell faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Deters said Brown left the Walmart in East Westwood around 3:30 p.m. on November 27 and waited outside for a ride to pick him up. Hassell reportedly rode up in a vehicle, got out, and shot Brown in the back of the head while he was waiting.
Brown and two others are seen leaving the Walmart and standing near the bollards outside, according to surveillance footage. After a brief pause, a man dressed completely in black with a hood pulled up and squeezed over his face can be seen slowly approaching Brown before drawing a gun and firing it near the back of Brown’s head.
Deters: Suspect at large 5 months after Walmart ‘execution’
“This man was executed, in broad daylight, in a crowded parking lot,” Deters said. “In all my years as a prosecutor, it is hard to think of another case as brazen as this. The type of person who can casually walk up behind an unsuspecting victim and put a bullet in their head is someone who should never be on the streets again.”
Anyone with information about Hassell’s whereabouts or the murder of Brown should call the Cincinnati Police Department at 513.352.3542.
