Armoni Cantu, 17, was killed in a drive-by shooting at West 31st and Liberty streets in Erie on Dec. 17, 2024.
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Cire Brown-House did not fire the gun that killed 17-year-old Armoni Cantu in a drive-by shooting linked to a dispute at Erie High School in December 2024.
But Brown-House, 19, supplied the gun and drove the shooter to the scene.
“If Cire Brown-House is not there, we are not here today,” Chief Deputy District Attorney Jeremy Lightner said. “He provided the means and the wheels.”
Lightner spoke at Brown-House’s sentencing hearing in Erie County Common Pleas Court on Oct. 26.
Judge John J. Trucilla accepted the recommendation of the prosecution and defense and sentenced Brown-House to 20 years to 40 years in state prison for his guilty plea in August to third-degree murder, an unintentional killing committed with malice.
“This was a cataclysmic event,” Trucilla told Brown-House of Cantu’s murder.
Brown-House avoids risk of life sentence
The 20- to 40-year sentence is the statutory maximum for third-degree murder. Brown-House’s plea deal allowed him to avoid a mandatory life sentence with no parole. He would have received that sentence had he gone to trial and been convicted of first-degree murder as an accomplice.
The shooter, Jamarion J.L. Boone, 18, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder, and Trucilla sentenced him to 53 years to life in state prison in April. Boone did not receive a mandatory life sentence because he was 17 when he killed Cantu. He was tried as an adult.
Brown-House was 18 when Cantu was killed at West 31st and Liberty streets on Dec. 17, 2024. The killing happened around 3:55 p.m., about 15 minutes after the final bell at Erie High, which is about five blocks from the shooting scene.
Investigators connected the shooting to Erie High. They said Boone, an Erie High student, was searching for two Erie High students he thought had bullied his girlfriend in school earlier in the day. Boone shot Cantu in the chest as he fired into a crowd of eight to 10 people at West 31st and Liberty streets, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
Cantu attended online classes and was not an Erie High student. He was friends with the students Boone was looking for, but he was not Boone’s intended target, the prosecution said. Boone also shot another 17-year-old in the face, but the boy survived. He also was not an intended target.
Erie police used surveillance video to help make arrests.
‘I will never move on,’ victim’s mom says
The dispute between Boone and the other students could have ended in a fistfight, Trucilla told Brown-House at the sentencing hearing. Trucilla said the dispute turned deadly after Brown-House decided to help Boone by driving him around and handing him the gun while they were in the car.
Boone opened fire from the rear passenger seat as Brown-House was in the driver’s seat.
“You took it from bad to worse to extreme,” Trucilla said.
Brown-House also heard from Cantu’s relatives. They characterized him as a catalyst for a crime that has caused “a lifetime of pain,” said Cantu’s aunt, Megan Cantu.
“You made the decision that helped take his life,” she told Brown-House. “You made your choices. Armoni never had a chance to make his.”
“I will never move on from this,” said Armoni Cantu’s mother, Valerie Cantu.
Brown-House apologized as he stood next to his court-appointed lawyer, Brian Arrowsmith. Handcuffed and wearing an orange prison jumpsuit, Brown-House turned and faced Armoni Cantu’s relatives in the gallery. He asked them to forgive him someday.
“I pray that you find peace and closure,” Brown-House said. “I am sorry.”
One more defendant to be sentenced in killing
Brown-House is the third defendant to be sentenced in the four-defendant case. The other sentenced defendant is Jahmeir O. Bibbs, 19. He was 17 when he was charged.
Bibbs was accused of providing directions to the crowd at West 31st and Liberty streets and sitting next to Boone in the back seat when Boone opened fire.
Bibbs cooperated and was tried in juvenile court, where he admitted to two felonies. Trucilla sentenced Bibbs to secure juvenile detention in July. He must be released when he turns 21.
The fourth defendant is Martavion C.D. Thompson, 20, accused of being the front passenger in the car. Thompson was 18 when he was charged. A plea hearing in his case is scheduled for Oct. 27 before Trucilla.
At the sentencing hearing on Oct. 26, Trucilla questioned Brown-House about why he escalated the Erie High dispute into a fatal shooting. He asked Brown-House where he got the gun he gave Boone.
Brown-House declined to answer.
“I messed up,” he said of the shooting. “I just want to turn my life around.”
Trucilla encouraged him to change while in prison.
“The life you choose,” Trucilla said, “is in your hands.”
Contact Ed Palattella at epalattella@usatodayco.com or 814-870-1813.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: He drove shooter, supplied gun in Erie murder. He gets up to 40 years
Reporting by Ed Palattella, Erie Times-News / Erie Times-News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
A 17-year-old Erie resident, Armoni Cantu, was killed in a drive-by shooting at West 31st and Liberty streets on Dec. 17, 2024. He was not the intended target. TIM HAHN/ERIE TIMES-NEWS USA TODAY Network, Reuters
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This story was originally published October 27, 2026 at 6:23 AM.