Juveniles may be charged as adults in Citgo shooting

By Chris Dumond
Lynchburg News & Advance
Published: June 24, 2008

At least two teens accused of participating in the robbery and shooting of a gas station clerk in April came away with blood-soaked money, according to court testimony Tuesday.

The testimony, from a police investigator and another city youth accused in the robbery, was made during a hearing in juvenile court. At its conclusion, Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court Judge William Light ruled that the cases of four of the five Lynchburg teenagers accused of participating in the incident will be heard by a grand jury in July.

If indicted, the teens will be prosecuted as adults and could face a maximum penalty of life in prison.

During the robbery, clerk Abderrahin Elfilali was shot in the head. Although he survived, a prosecutor told the judge that Elfilali will have permanent brain damage.

Charges of aggravated malicious wounding, robbery and two counts of use of a firearm in commission of a felony were certified against Jacob Thomas Hudson, 17; Jonathan Edward Jackson, 18; Keshawn O’Neal Hubbard, 17; and Damontez Daquan Hubbard, 15.

Keshawn Hubbard and Jackson also are charged with wearing a mask in public. Jackson was 17 at the time of the robbery.

The prosecution’s main witness Tuesday turned out to be a fifth boy, Travis O’Neal Thomas, 17.

Thomas testified he knew the other four teens from Heritage High School and that they met after school April 24 at Damontez Hubbard’s home near the Citgo.

He said they — along with Kionne Pulley, 20 — planned to rob the nearby gas station because they thought it had “the most money” compared to fast- food restaurants suggested by other members of the group.

The group broke up around 7 p.m., he said, and got back together later that night. Everyone, he said, had masks — most made from cut-up knitted caps.

Pulley brought a pistol. Thomas testified he grabbed his sawed-off shotgun as they left Hubbard’s house.

He testified Hudson drove the group to the Citgo, dropping them off nearby on Texas Avenue. He said they backed out at first because too many customers were coming and going.

On the second go-round, Thomas said he refused to get out of the truck and that he rode with Hudson until he saw someone run out of the Citgo.

“I didn’t want to be involved,” he testified.

They then drove back to the gas station and picked up the other four. Jackson had Thomas’ shotgun when he got in the truck, the boy said.

When he got home, Thomas said, he found that the money he grabbed out of a bag held by one of the other boys in the truck had blood all over it. He saw information about the robbery on the evening news and was arrested the next morning at school.

Lynchburg Police Department Investigator Dan Black testified a Crimestoppers tip early the day after the robbery brought investigators to Jacob Hudson’s home.

There, Black testified, police found bloody money in one of the boy’s sandals. In a sandbox next to his house, they found a pistol and sawed-off shotgun believed to have been used in the robbery and shooting.

Pulley later admitted shooting the clerk, Black said. Pulley’s case was certified to the grand jury last week.

After certifying the case on Tuesday, Judge Light also ordered Hudson and the Hubbards transferred from the juvenile home to the Lynchburg Adult Detention Center. Jackson had previously been transferred because of his age.

Light also denied a bond request for Hudson.

Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Chuck Felmlee argued the youth is facing multiple life sentences and that he also served as a getaway driver in a similar earlier robbery.

Felmlee told Light he believes Hudson used money from that robbery to buy the pistol Pulley allegedly used to shoot the Citgo clerk.

Also, during the hearing, Thomas testified no promises had been made to him by the prosecutors in exchange for his testimony.

However, he said his lawyer told him prosecutors could, unlike in the case of the other four boys, decide to try him as a juvenile where he could face lesser penalties to reward him for his cooperation.

Felmlee earlier said he intended to try all five boys as adults, but Thomas said Tuesday he did not believe that was the case.