AKRON, Ohio — A 21-year-old Akron man pleaded guilty Thursday to two charges in connection with the fatal shooting of a pregnant woman in 2022.
Lenier Worthy is one of several people who have been charged and convicted in the death of Teyaurra Harris, 21, in April 2022, according to Summit County Prosecutor Elliot Kolkovich. Worthy pleaded guilty to two counts of involuntary manslaughter with firearm specifications and two counts of improper handling of a firearm in a motor vehicle.
“This was a difficult case with an innocent pregnant woman shot and killed because two groups of people used guns to settle a dispute,” Kolkovich said in a statement. “Summit County is safer with these people locked up.”
Prosecutors say seven men were involved in the shooting.
According to the prosecutor’s office, Zyeir Saunders, 22, Darrion Rackley, 20, Jeremiah Williams, 22, and Antonil Whitaker, 17, were parked on Rockaway Street in Akron on April 14, 2022. Nearby were Worthy, 19-year-old Jaunte Smith, 21-year-old Jaevaiaire Small, and an 18-year-old mald.
Harris was a passenger in a car which pulled up between the two groups, prosecutors say. The driver of that vehicle stuck his head out of the window, and Saunders and Whitaker reportedly started shooting.
Prosecutors say Small believed the shots were coming from the car with Harris inside and he opened fire. Harris, who was six-weeks pregnant, died after she was struck in the head by a bullet. The 18-year-old male, who was not charged, was struck twice in the leg.
In the evening of April 14, 2022, 20-year-old Darrion Rackley, 20-year-old Zyeir Saunders, 17-year-old Antonil Whitaker, and 21-year-old Jeremiah Williams parked on Rockaway Street in Akron, just up from where Lenier Worthy, 19-year-old Jaunte Smith, 21-year-old Jaevaiaire Small, and 18-year-old Ni’Kayla Johnson were hanging out. Twenty-one yearold Teyaurra Harris was a passenger in a car which pulled up near the two groups.
As the driver of the vehicle Harris was in stuck his head out the window, Saunders, Whitaker, and Rackley started shooting. Ni’Kayla Johnson was struck twice in the leg.
Thinking the shots were coming from the vehicle with Teyaurra Harris, Worthy, Small, and Smith started shooting. Harris, who was six-weeks pregnant at the time, was struck in the head and died. Investigators determined the shots Worthy fired were the ones that struck Harris.
In July 2023, Saunders was sentenced to 35 to 40½ years in prison after he pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and four counts of felonious assault. In December, Rackley was sentenced to 34-to-39½ years in prison, Whitaker to 20-to-24 years in prison, and Williams to 20-to-24 years in prison.
Rackley pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and two counts of felonious assault, all felonies with gun specifications. Whitaker pleaded guilty as an adult to the same charges. Williams pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and three counts of felonious assault, all felonies with gun specifications.
Jaeviaire Small pleaded guilty to aggravated assault, having a weapon under disability and carrying a concealed weapon and was sentenced in June 2023 to four years in prison.
Jaunte Smith pleaded guilty to aggravated assault with a gun specification and was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison in September 2023.
Summit County Common Pleas Court Judge Alison McCarty is scheduled to sentence Worthy on Nov. 22.
