A would-be robber who tried to shoot an Akron officer was sentenced to 15 years in prison Friday.
Prosecutors say Javon Spells, 20, of Barberton, admitted he intended to kill the officer, but his gun didn’t go off.
“What were you trying to do when you pulled the gun?” an investigating officer asked Spells at the time.
“I was going to try to kill him, sir,” Spells responded, according to his recorded interview with officers.
Prosecutors called Spells’ admission “chilling.”
Under an agreement with prosecutors, Spells pleaded guilty Friday in Summit County Common Pleas Court to attempted murder of a police officer, aggravated robbery with a gun specification, having a weapon under disability and assault on a police dog. Judge Scot Stevenson immediately sentenced Spells to 15 years in prison. He faced up to 31 years.
A 47-year-old man told police June 28 that he was walking at Ada Street and Reed Avenue when a man later identified as Spells approached him on a bicycle.
Spells flashed a handgun and said, “Give ...” The victim, however, ran away, yelling, and called police, who broadcast a description of Spells. Officers spotted Spells, still on his bicycle in the area of Rosemary Square.
As an officer approached, Spells pulled out a handgun and pulled the trigger, according to police. The gun, however, didn’t fire.
A chase ensued and Recon, a police K-9, found Spells hiding in a wooded area on Kelly Avenue. Spells repeatedly punched Recon, but the dog wasn’t injured, according to the Summit County Prosecutor’s Office.