CLEVELAND — A suspect who was wanted in two separate homicides in Cleveland refused to face a judge Thursday, one week after authorities say he and others shot and killed a 3-year-old boy in the Stockyards neighborhood.
Twenty-eight-year-old Devonte Parker was arrested Monday. He first declined to appear in court Wednesday, pushing back his arraignment to Thursday. Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Suzan Sweeney carried on the hearing without him today, saying, "He doesn't want to see me? I won’' want to see him."
Prosecutors asked the judge to set bail at $5 million, noting that Parker is wanted in seven jurisdictions and is a suspect in two separate homicides. Sweeney ultimately set his bail at $7.6 million.
"The felonious assault also involves firearms," the judge said while reading through his file. "This has to stop."
On Sept. 28, another suspect, Katherine Treadway, is accused of arguing with a neighbor and then calling Parker and Juan Davis to West 66th Street and Barberton Avenue. Authorities said Parker and Davis fired 12 rounds, hitting and killing 3-year-old Luiz Diaz while injuring his 31-year-old step father.
In a recently released 911 call, a man who says he is Diaz's father pleads with the dispatcher to send help. He told officials :it was a drive by shooting. … Somebody came by and started shooting."
In another 911 call, a neighbor shouts, "Oh no! No! Someone's shot! Someone's shot right on the corner of 66th! It is a little baby!"
Parker is also accused of being involved in another fatal shooting on May 21 of this year. Police say the victim, Jalen Dalton, was shot and killed in his vehicle on East 75th Street in Cleveland.
Parker is expect back in court on Oct. 18.