Sheymarr R. Noble, a 22-year-old Black / African American man from Toledo, Ohio, was fatally shot on May 25, 2014, during a violent confrontation in the 2100 block of Joffre Avenue. The shooting unfolded at about 3 p.m., when a large number of people were outside nearby homes and a fight broke out for reasons that police said were not immediately clear. Gunfire erupted during the disturbance, throwing the area into chaos. Police reported that at least 10 shots were fired.
Noble was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead at approximately 3:45 p.m.
Three other people were wounded in the same burst of gunfire. Emerson D. Ware underwent surgery for his injuries, while Terrelle D. Russell suffered a wound to his hand and Davon Ballard was wounded in the leg. Investigators faced a crowded crime scene with numerous potential witnesses and initially considered the possibility that the violence was gang-related. Police did not publicly establish what had triggered the original fight, but the number of people present and the multiple victims made the investigation particularly complicated.
In the immediate aftermath, Toledo police arrested 19-year-old Tyler Jones and accused him of firing the shots. Jones was charged with one count of murder and three counts of felonious assault and was initially held on a $1.3 million bond. Police also arrested 18-year-old Areanna Coley on a charge of obstruction of justice. The case against Jones soon changed dramatically. On June 5, 2014, a Toledo Municipal Court judge granted a nolle prosequi at the recommendation presented to the court, and police dropped the murder and felonious-assault charges against Jones because of what authorities described as “evidentiary consideration.” Jones remained jailed at the time on an unrelated felonious-assault case.
As detectives continued investigating, attention shifted to another suspect. By August 2014, Toledo police had arrested 19-year-old Michael D. Gaston Jr. and charged him with Noble’s murder. Investigators said several witnesses who had been present at the Joffre Avenue scene identified Gaston. He was held on a $500,000 bond while facing the murder charge, replacing Jones as the person authorities accused of responsibility for the fatal shooting.
Gaston also faced an additional charge of making a false statement to mislead a public official. Authorities alleged that when an officer questioned him on August 22, Gaston supplied a different name, date of birth, and Social Security number in an effort to prevent authorities from discovering his identity and taking him into custody on the murder charge. The available reporting therefore shows an investigation that initially focused on Jones before evidence and witness accounts led police to abandon that prosecution and bring the murder case against Gaston instead.
