Another person has been arrested and charged in connection to the 2020 shooting death of 8-year-old MiKayla Pickett during a backyard birthday party in Akron’s Sherbondy Hill neighborhood, according to Akron police.
Jaevone Suggs, 18, was arrested Friday morning in relation to the girl’s death on Aug. 14, 2020, Akron police said. During the incident, a then-14-year-old girl was also injured when she was shot in the leg, with police saying they were “caught between a hail of gunfire” outside a residence in the 700 block of Roselle Avenue.
Police said that detectives issued an arrest warrant for Suggs in April of this year after developing information linking him to the incident. The U.S. Marshals Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force members and Akron investigators tracked Suggs to a residence in the 1300 block of Nester Avenue in Akron’s Kenmore neighborhood and took him into custody without incident.
Suggs was booked into the Summit County Juvenile Detention Facility and charged with aggravated murder, murder, discharging firearms and felonious assault.
Suggs is the fourth person charged in relation to the girl’s death: Robert Scott, 22; Donte Farmer, 37; and Emahni Thomas, 21, are charged with aggravated murder and felonious assault. Scott was arrested last month in Michigan. Farmer is currently incarcerated on unrelated charges.
MiKayla, whom her family called “Kay Kay,” was a student at Portage Path Community Learning Center. Her family said she took dance classes and gymnastics, and that she wanted to be a dancer when she grew up. Her mother, Shoskamika Risper, said she was a homebody, was lovable and had a good heart.
Risper she was at work when a babysitter took MiKayla over to the party, a street away from where she lived. She said they’ve known the people throwing the party for a long time, but that she didn’t know her daughter was there.
“MiKayla didn’t even get to grow up yet,” Risper said. “She still had a lot to live for.”