FAIRMONT, W.Va. (WBOY) — A second man has been charged in connection to what police have called a “drive-by style shooting” that happened in Fairmont earlier this year.
The shooting happened on April 27, 2023, on Maple Avenue Extension, but the criminal complaint filed against the second suspect said that the incident involved a kidnapping as well, and started in Morgantown.
That complaint alleges that 29-year-old Kenyatta Ephraim, a convicted sex offender from the Cleveland, Ohio area, and Tyreese Taylor, who is also 29 and from the Cleveland, Ohio area, as well as a third person—whose name was redacted in the complaint—”unlawfully took custody” of a victim from that person’s Morgantown residence “by show of force with a firearm and threats to kill the victim.”
The two are accused in the complaint of taking the victim to Fairmont while “ask[ing] the victim for money through threats of violence” while asking the victim where one of their relatives was.
Police say that Ephraim and Taylor presented the firearm, threatening the victim to “compel [their relative] to meet with the offenders and the victim was forced to contact [their relative].”
The two continued to hold the victim while looking for their relative, according to the complaint, and “Ephraim and Taylor began shooting out of the vehicle directed toward the victim’s [relative].”
Ephraim was shot during the incident, and police say that the victim was able to get out of the vehicle at Fairmont Medical Center.
Taylor has been charged with attempted first degree murder, kidnapping and use or presentation of a firearm during commission of a felony. Fairmont Police Department Chief Steve Shine said Taylor was arrested in Ohio and had to be extradited, which is why the criminal complaint just now became available.
Shine said the third person mentioned in the complaint was Jamie Ray Jones. Back in July, The U.S. Marshals Service said it was looking for him in connection to an incident where a driver crashed into multiple vehicles near University Town Center, and that Jones also had a West Virginia warrant for attempted first-degree murder and kidnapping.
Ephraim is being held in the North Central Regional Jail and Taylor is being held in the North Regional Jail, both on no bond.
Anyone with information regarding Jones and his whereabouts is encouraged to contact the U.S. Marshals Service at 304-623-0486 or contact 911.
