The case now heads to the grand jury for consideration, following preliminary hearings for the suspects connected with the fatal shooting of 19-year-old Neveah Gill in June.
A preliminary hearing acts as a court proceeding where a judge determines if there is enough evidence to believe that a crime was committed, and then the case is sent on from there to a grand jury for indictment. Detective Danielle O’Hara with the Hopkinsville Police Department testified about the investigation that led to the charges of first-degree murder, two counts of first-degree wanton endangerment and tampering with physical evidence against 19-year-old De’Quavion Bronaugh. Two other individuals, 18-year-old Dereon Sharp and 18-year-old Jervontae Bussell, are charged with first-degree burglary.
Officers were called to the Eagle Crossing Apartments on Calvin Drive June 22 for reports that a subject was shot and arrived to find Gill with multiple gunshot wounds. She was rushed to the hospital, where she would later succumb to her injuries.
O’Hara says investigation determined that Gill, Bussell and Sharp allegedly entered Bronaugh’s apartment while he was sleeping and took a firearm from inside. As they left the apartment Bronaugh woke up, investigated outside and saw the three running from the apartment, and that’s when he shot at them.
Gill was struck in the gunfire, while Bussell and Sharp were found hiding in a wood line nearby later in the evening. In an interview with police, Bronaugh reportedly told officers he had recognized the gun as his, but none of the three had threatened harm to him before he began shooting.
O’Hara says while a nearby Ring camera does not catch them entering the apartment, it did record them leaving it, and a firearm could reportedly be seen in their possession. Bronaugh reportedly had both the firearm and Gill’s cellphone in his possession when police arrived, and had retreated back into the apartment.
Attorneys for Bussell and Sharp requested their bond be reduced to a 10 percent cash bond, though Judge Lindsey Adams ultimately left bond the same.
Bronaugh is represented by defense attorney Sands Chewning, who argued his client should be released on his own recognizance, but prosecutor Katherine Foster says it can’t be forgotten that a young woman died that night.
Judge Adams ruled to leave bond at $500,000 cash, and finding probable cause, sent all three cases to the grand jury for consideration of indictment.