Defense in Kettering murder case: Teen fired shot, meant no harm

Is Kylen Gregory guilty of murder or potentially reckless homicide?

That is a key question a jury of 10 women and two men will be asked to sort out in the trial of the Kettering teen who pleaded not guilty to multiple counts – including two murder charges – in the Sept. 4, 2016, fatal shooting of Ronnie Bowers. Gregory and Bowers were both 16 at the time of the shooting.

Prosecutors told the jury Tuesday during opening statements that Gregory, 18, fired the deadly shot at Bowers’ car as the Fairmont High School student sought to flee a scene about 9 p.m. on Willowdale Avenue.

“Ronnie – in an attempt to leave — puts the car in drive and simultaneously a shot was fired” at the vehicle by Gregory, Assistant Prosecutor Julie Bruns told the jury in the prosecution’s opening statement.

The defense didn’t question much of Bruns’ 10-minute opening remarks to the jury, with attorney Jon Paul Rion telling them later “most of what you just heard was true.”

Gregory was a novice with gun and had no intent on hurting anyone with the shot that he fired, Rion said.

“It wasn’t meant to cause harm,” he said, noting his client “had never shot a gun in his life.”

The shot “was just to send a message” in a dispute that started between friends of Bowers and Gregory at AlterFest, according to Rion, who argued for lesser penalties for his client, such as reckless homicide or firing a shot over a roadway.

Gregory sat motionless during much of Tuesday’s late morning and early afternoon proceedings, which came after the jury left the courthouse to view a scene. In Judge Dennis Langer’s court, many jurors took notes as both the defense and prosecution outlined their arguments.

Gregory and Bowers did not know each other, court witnesses have said. Bowers died two days later in what was Kettering’s first gun-related homicide since 2007.

Gregory’s case was transferred from juvenile court to common pleas court in July 2017.

A month later, the defendant pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder, five counts of felonious assault and one count of discharging a firearm at or near a prohibited premise.

He has been in juvenile detention since the shooting and is being held on a $1 million bond. Three people who were said to be with Gregory at the shooting have pleaded guilty to lesser charges.

All three have been subpoenaed to testify. Two of them were juveniles at the time of the shooting. The third – Miles Heizer, 20 – is in prison on an unrelated conviction, according to his attorney.

At AlterFest, Bruns said, Gregory’s friends got into a confrontation with a boy with Bowers and two girls.

Gregory’s friends “tried to get (Bowers’ friend) to fight, and he didn’t want to fight,” Bruns told the jury about the AlterFest scene. “They left.”

Shortly after, Bruns said, Gregory and his four friends followed them in a car to Wlllowdale, where Bowers parked a few blocks away.

Bowers turned around in a driveway and the car in which Gregory was riding stopped, blocking them in, Bruns said.

Many in the other car – driven by Heizer – approached Bowers’ vehicle seeking a fight, Bruns said.

Bowers put the car in reverse, forcing Heizer to move his car and Bowers drove away before the shot was fired, Bruns said.

Bowers died from a gunshot wound to the back of the head, Dr. Mary Goolsby of the Montgomery County Coroner’s Office testified Tuesday.

The wound, she agreed with defense attorney Benjamin Swift, was consistent with a ricochet as the bullet was fragmented.

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About the Author

Nick Blizzard

Nick Blizzard is a staff writer for the Dayton Daily News. He is a graduate of Stebbins High School who earned a bachelor’s degree from Ohio University and its E.W. Scripps School of Journalism. Nick is a Riverside native and has been a journalist in the Dayton area for more than 20 years.