TOLEDO, Ohio — Two men face up to life in prison after being convicted in a shooting on Interstate 75 that killed a 3-year-old as his family headed home from a Thanksgiving gathering.
A jury on Monday convicted K’veon Giles, 19, and Matthew Smith, 18, of aggravated murder, murder and felonious assault in the death of Malachi Barnes, who was in the backseat of his father’s car when a vehicle pulled alongside and the men began shooting.
A 10-year-old child riding in the car was hurt by broken glass while the boy’s father and a 2-year-old passenger weren’t hurt, police said.
The shooting on Nov. 22, 2018, was in retaliation in an ongoing feud, although the intended target wasn’t in the car, prosecutors said.
A third man who was with Giles and Smith and pleaded guilty to complicity to involuntary manslaughter testified last week that the two men were the ones who fired the first shots.
Andrew White also testified that the two others plotted to shoot and kill a man who they thought was in the car.
Defense attorneys didn’t call any witnesses during the trial, The Blade reported.
Smith denied firing shots when he spoke with detectives. Dave Klucas, an attorney for Giles, told jurors that Giles was not in any security footage police obtained until well after the shooting.
