Portage County prosecutors intend to pursue adult charges against a 17-year-old Stow boy accused of shooting a Kent State University student to death Sunday.
Prosecutors filed a motion in juvenile court to bump up the charges, Beacon Journal news partner NewsNet5 reported Tuesday. A judge has not yet ruled on the motion.
Ty Kremling faces a charge of delinquency by way of aggravated murder. If he is tried as an adult, he could face life in prison if convicted. He cannot face the death penalty because in 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that it is unconstitutional to execute someone who committed a capital crime as a juvenile.
Kremling’s charges resulted from the death of Nick Massa, 18, of Westlake. Massa was visiting friends at an off-campus apartment complex on East Main Street in Kent when three young men came to the apartment about 4:15 p.m. and demanded money, a 911 caller reported.
Massa challenged the robbers when they said they would shoot if they did not cooperate, and one of the robbers fired at him.
Massa died of his wounds while the three young men fled. The shooter was identified as Kremling by one of the occupants of the apartment.
Officials at Kent State and Stow-Munroe Falls Schools announced they would have counselors available to help students through the news.
Kremling is a junior at Stow-Munroe Falls High School.
In addition, the school district said in a Facebook post that two other Stow minors were questioned and released, and two people from outside the Stow area are being pursued by Kent police.
The district assured students and parents that the incident caused no threat to safety in Stow schools.