Darreo Harris
Darreo Harris, 26, pleaded guilty in Hamilton County Criminal Court Tuesday to second-degree murder in the New Year's Day 2015 killing of 18-year-old Juan Boyd, who died in a Waffle House parking lot at 4903 Brainerd Road. He received a reduced 12-year sentence and will receive credit for the three years and four months he has already spent in custody.
Harris was charged with criminal homicide, aggravated assault, and possessing a firearm during a dangerous felony.
Police said both the accused and victim are gang members. Police said Boyd was in the Rollin 60 Crip gang and Harris is in the Kemp Drive Posse gang.
Officers were flagged down at 4031 Brainerd Road around 3 a.m. and told that a shooting victim was inside the vehicle at the Waffle House. The deceased body of Boyd was in the car.
The driver of the car, a 2004 Mitsubishi Galant, said he was stopped in the parking lot of the Waffle House when he heard a gunshot and his rear-passenger window break. He said there was another shot and the front passenger window broke.
The driver said he realized that Boyd was injured so he pulled over when he saw police on Brainerd Road.
Video from the Waffle House showed the shooter firing shots at 2:56 a.m. He ran from the sidewalk at the entrance side of the Waffle House toward the vehicle.
The shooter is shown in the video placing his left hand on the vehicle near the trunk in order to slow down from running. A palm print was recovered from that area of the vehicle.
Police said the print has some smearing that would be consistent with the shooter having to brace himself after running.
Police said the print matched that of Harris.
They said the clothing seen in the video is consistent with the clothing he said he was wearing. They said the physical description of the shooter is similar to that of Harris.