- Prosecutors are seeking to prosecute Ely Ray Serna as an adult.
- Serna was taken into custody Friday morning.
- Serna is being held in a juvenile detention center.
Serna, faces numerous charges, including two counts of attempted murder; three counts of felonious assault; six counts of improperly discharging a firearm; and single counts of inducing panic and illegal conveyance of a deadly weapon in a school, according to the county prosecutor’s office.
Serna will appear in court one day before classes resume at West Liberty-Salem, according to the school district’s website.
INITIAL REPORT:
Prosecutors said today a teenager accused of shooting another student at West Liberty-Salem High School may be tried as an adult in Champaign County Common Pleas Court.
Ely Ray Serna, 17, was taken into custody Friday after the shooting, which left one student in critical condition and caused minor injuries to another victim. Serna will face 13 charges that include attempted murder, felonious assault, improperly discharging a firearm, inducing panic and bringing a deadly weapon into a school safety zone.
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Serna is currently being held in a juvenile detention center.
The victim, Logan Cole, is being treated at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus. Family members said in a Facebook post today that he suffered several serious injuries but could be taken out of intensive care as early as today. Family members described several injuries in the Fabebook post, including lung damage from shotgun pellets, multiple bone breaks and fractures and teeth that were damaged when he fell to the floor.
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West Liberty community members said they remained stunned a day after the shooting. Numerous community members downtown Saturday said it’s been decades since the last serious, violent crime they can remember in the small, rural village of fewer than 2,000 residents. When students fled the campus shortly after the shooting started, many of them fled across cold, muddy cornfields into the homes of neighbors who had volunteered to open their doors to the students.
“It’s almost like every door is open to everyone,” said Mike Dalton, who has a kindergarten student at the K-12 campus.
Dalton’s wife grew up in West Liberty, and they moved there because she felt it would be the best place to raise their child. He still believes that’s the case despite Friday’s tragedy.
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