{"id":316855,"date":"2026-10-29T11:58:17","date_gmt":"2026-10-29T11:58:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/316855\/"},"modified":"2026-10-29T11:58:17","modified_gmt":"2026-10-29T11:58:17","slug":"he-cooperated-in-erie-drive-by-shooting-sentence-reflects-his-help","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/316855\/","title":{"rendered":"He cooperated in Erie drive-by shooting. Sentence reflects his help"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Armoni<\/p>\n

Armoni Cantu, 17, was killed in a drive-by shooting at West 31st and Liberty streets in Erie on Dec. 17, 2024.<\/p>\n

PROVIDED BY ORLANDO FUNERAL HOME<\/p>\n

USA TODAY Network, Reuters<\/p>\n

Martavion C.D. Thompson was an 18-year-old senior at Erie High School when 17-year-old Armoni Cantu was killed in a drive-by shooting after school on Dec. 17, 2024.<\/p>\n

Erie police used surveillance video to identify Thompson as a suspect. The day after the shooting, police pulled him out of class to question him.<\/p>\n

Thompson gave a statement. He later testified at the preliminary hearing in the case and agreed to take the stand if any of his codefendants went to trial.<\/p>\n

Thompson’s cooperation aided him.<\/p>\n

The Erie County District Attorney’s Office initially pursued first-degree murder charges against him and his codefendants, either directly or under accomplice liability.<\/p>\n

The prosecution cited Thompson’s cooperation in allowing him to plead guilty to two felony counts on Oct. 27. Thompson was immediately sentenced to five to 10 years in state prison at a hearing in the Erie County Court of Common Pleas.<\/p>\n

He was the last of the four defendants to be sentenced in the case.<\/p>\n

Thompson was the front-seat passenger in the car when the shooter fired from the back seat, hitting Cantu in the chest as he stood in a crowd of eight to 10 people at West 31st and Liberty streets.<\/p>\n

Thompson, who had no prior record, admitted to helping provide directions to locate the crowd for a fight. He said he never anticipated a shooting.<\/p>\n

“I should have stopped what was going on in that situation,” Thompson told Judge John J. Trucilla.<\/p>\n

DA, defense agreed on Thompson’s sentence<\/p>\n

The charge of first-degree murder, an intentional killing, put Thompson at risk for a mandatory life sentence without parole. The District Attorney’s Office allowed Thompson to plead guilty to aggravated assault and criminal conspiracy to commit aggravated assault.<\/p>\n

The prosecution and defense recommended an aggregate standard-range sentence of five to 10 years. Trucilla accepted the recommendation while condemning the killing and noting that Thompson’s cooperation helped police identify the other participants.<\/p>\n

“This is your chance to show everyone you have a new outlook on life – one that Armoni never had,” Trucilla told Thompson.<\/p>\n

Three other defendants already sentenced<\/p>\n

Trucilla sentenced Thompson a day after he sentenced the main accomplice in the shooting, Cire Brown-House, 19. Brown-House admitted to driving the car and supplying the gun to the shooter, and he pleaded guilty to third-degree murder. Trucilla sentenced Brown-House to 20 to 40 years in state prison.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The other defendant is Jahmeir O. Bibbs, 19, who was 17 when 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.<\/p>\n

Bibbs also cooperated. He admitted to two felonies in juvenile court. Trucilla sentenced Bibbs to secure juvenile detention in July. He must be released when he turns 21.<\/p>\n

A confrontation that turned deadly<\/p>\n

In his guilty plea, Thompson admitted to “participating in locating” the crowd at West 31st and Liberty streets, Chief Deputy District Attorney Jeremy Lightner said in court. Lightner said the plea deal was “appropriate” given Thompson’s cooperation and his role in the killing.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Investigators said Boone, an Erie High student, was searching for two Erie High students he thought had bullied his girlfriend at school earlier that day.<\/p>\n

Cantu attended online classes and was not an Erie High student. He was friends with the students Boone was looking for in the crowd, the prosecution said. Boone also shot another 17-year-old in the face, but the boy survived. That teen also was not an intended target.<\/p>\n

Surveillance video showed Thompson preparing to open his car door to approach the crowd moments before the shooting. Thompson’s court-appointed lawyer, Bruce Sandmeyer, referred to the video in arguing that Thompson never expected the confrontation to end the way it did.<\/p>\n

“If anything,” Sandmeyer said in court, “he thought a fight was going to take place, not a drive-by shooting.”<\/p>\n

Thompson apologized to Cantu’s family and his own family. Relatives from both sides filled the gallery.<\/p>\n

“I am truly sorry,” Thompson said as he turned toward Cantu’s family. “I wish sometime you can forgive me, because I know you cannot forget.”<\/p>\n

Trucilla questioned Thompson before he sentenced him. He asked why, once Thompson saw a gun, he did not prevent the situation from escalating.<\/p>\n

“I’m still trying to find the answer to that,” Thompson said.<\/p>\n

Contact Ed Palattella at epalattella@usatodayco.com or 814-870-1813.<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: He cooperated in Erie drive-by shooting. Sentence reflects his help<\/p>\n

Reporting by Ed Palattella, Erie Times-News \/ Erie Times-News<\/p>\n

USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n

\"A A drive-by shooting at West 31st and Liberty streets in Erie killed Armoni Cantu, 17, on Dec. 17, 2024. TIM HAHN\/ERIE TIMES-NEWS USA TODAY Network, Reuters \"Erie Erie County Judge John J. Trucilla sentenced all four defendants who pleaded guilty in the fatal drive-by shooting of 17-year-old Armoni Cantu on Dec. 17, 2024. ERIE TIMES-NEWS FILE USA TODAY Network, Reuters <\/p>\n

Copyright Reuters or USA Today via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n

This story was originally published October 27, 2026 at 3:50 PM.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Armoni Cantu, 17, was killed in a drive-by shooting at West 31st and Liberty streets in Erie on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":316856,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[136,138,137],"class_list":["post-316855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-erie","tag-erie","tag-erie-headlines","tag-erie-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=316855"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316855\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/316856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=316855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=316855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=316855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}