Travis Cook, 27, of Lima, was sentenced Thursday to five years in prison for discharging a firearm into a home on North Union Street more than three years ago. Police said Cook has links to a Lima street gang.
J Swygart | The Lima News
LIMA — A Lima man with reported links to a city street gang was sentenced Thursday to five years in prison for discharging a firearm into a residential dwelling more than three years ago.
Travis Cook, 27, was sentenced to five years in prison — two years on a second-degree felony charge of discharging a firearm into a residence and three years for an accompanying firearm specification — for shooting into the home of a young Lima man previously involved in the accidental shooting death of an individual associated with the city’s North Side gang.
Cook entered into an agreement with prosecutors in May and pleaded guilty to the charge in exchange for an agreement that his prison sentence be capped at five years. Judge Terri Kohlrieser, despite her obvious disagreement, honored the joint recommendation.
According to court records, multiple gunshots were fired into a residence in the 1000 block of North Union Street on the afternoon of June 26, 2019. A resident of the home reportedly was in the living room when she heard the shots. Evidence at the scene showed fresh glass on the front porch and a bullet hole through a security door and the entry door. There were spent .22 caliber shell casings on the street in front of the residence, court documents reveal.
Lima Police Department Detective Steve Stechschulte in his report of the incident said he was aware that the son of the home’s resident had previously been involved in the accidental shooting death of an individual associated with the North Side gang in Lima.
“Since that time the North Side gang affiliates have made threats toward him because they believed he did it on purpose,” Stechschulte wrote.
The mother of the intended target of the shooting addressed the court on Thursday and said Cook and a Black male followed her son home on the afternoon of June 26. She said Cook was known on the street as “Skittles” or “The Shooter.” She called Cook a “very easily influenced” person who she believes acted at the instruction of the other individual.
Cook admitted prior to sentencing on Thursday that he did shoot into the residence but said he did so “because somebody threatened my life.” He nonetheless apologized for his actions.
“What I did was very dangerous. I didn’t try to harm her son; I just tried to protect myself,” he said.
Cook’s attorney, Thomas Lucente, said his client “was told to shoot at someone. He didn’t want to do that and kind of shot awry” to avoid hitting the intended target. “He recognizes the stupidity of his act,” Lucente said.
Kohlrieser said she finds it “ridiculous” when defendants downplay the seriousness of incidents by rationalizing that no one got hurt.
“Guns kill people,” the judge said. “And it’s by the grace of God … or luck, or fate or whatever you want to call it” that nobody was injured in the 2019 shooting.
Cook was arrested after a witness identified him in a photo line-up. After posting bond he eluded authorities for more than a year before being extradited back to Lima from Kentucky.
