Six people are charged with murder after their accomplice died during a plotted ambush, Chesco DA says

Seven people set out in August to attack a neighborhood rival, prosecutors in Chester County said Friday, out for blood over an Instagram post their target had made.

But during that planned ambush, a member of the group was dealt a fatal injury, while the man they were gunning for survived. Dametirus McClain-Jackson, 20, was killed by one of his accomplices, according to prosecutors. It remains unclear which one fired the deadly shot.

Now, the six survivors have been charged with conspiracy, first-degree murder, and related crimes in their friend’s death, according to prosecutors.

One of the suspects, Victor Lara-Ortiz, allegedly helped carry out the shooting months after expressing remorse to a county judge in connection with the death of his young brother, who fatally shot himself with a loaded gun Lara-Ortiz left on his nightstand. The 19-year-old pledged to change his ways and work on improving his life.

Investigators said Friday that Lara-Ortiz wasn’t sincere: Pictures found on a cell phone after he allegedly participated in the shooting that led to McClain-Jackson’s death in August show him wielding a handgun.

Charged alongside Lara-Ortiz are Markel Jones, 21; Richard Rochester-Cottle, 21; Garry White, 19; Zaire Harley, 19; and a juvenile suspect that prosecutors identified only as “QL.”

All six remain in custody, denied bail due to the nature of the charges they face.

Attorneys for White, Jones, and Rochester-Cottle did not immediately return requests for comment. It was unclear if the other defendants had hired attorneys.

The group targeted their victim, Elijah Green, after seeing an Instagram post in which he took credit for an earlier shooting at a party that some of them had attended, according to the affidavit of probable cause filed for the six suspects’ arrests. One of the group had been grazed by gunfire in that shooting, the affidavit said.

A witness told police that Lara-Ortiz had urged the group to find Green, and suggested some locations where he might be found, the affidavit said.

The group rode together Aug. 23 in a Chevrolet Traverse reported stolen out of Berks County in search of Green. The car’s owner had left it running while inside a Sheetz, and had left his loaded .308 handgun inside the vehicle — that gun, witnesses told police, would later be used by Lara-Ortiz during the shooting.

When the group saw Green and his friends in the driveway of a home on Community Lane, Lara-Ortiz, McClain-Jackson, Rochester-Cottle, and White got out of the vehicle and opened fire, the affidavit said. During the shooting, McClain-Jackson yelled “Vic, you shot me,” according to the witness’ account.

The six suspects fled the scene, leaving the stolen Traverse, and McClain-Jackson, behind. Medics later transported the wounded man to Paoli Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead. An autopsy revealed he had been shot once in the back, and that the bullet had hit his lungs.

Lara-Ortiz denied being involved in the shooting, saying he was at Lincoln University at the time, the affidavit said. But cell phone data reviewed by detectives showed that he was in Coatesville when McClain-Jackson was killed.

At the time, Lara-Ortiz was on probation after pleading guilty in February to involuntary manslaughter, endangering the welfare of children, and gun offenses in connection with the death of his 4-year-old brother, Roman Aguilar-Ortiz. The gun Roman shot himself in the head with was an illegal weapon that Lara-Ortiz had left unsecured in his bedroom.

During his sentencing in that case, Lara-Ortiz told Chester County Judge Analisa Sondergaard that he was “aware and saddened” by the pain he had put his mother through, and said his “careless actions got the best of [him].”

Sondergaard seemed hopeful that Lara-Ortiz would learn from his mistakes.

“Without minimizing the defendant’s dangerous behaviors, this court believes that jail is not the place for this defendant,” Sondergaard said. “I want you to graduate. I want you to have dreams. I want you to succeed.”

Eight months later, Sondergaard revoked Lara-Ortiz’s bail, ordering him to serve 11 ½ to 23 months in county jail after investigators discovered a photo of him holding an AR-15 pistol while executing a search warrant.

“It was made crystal clear to you that you were never to possess a firearm,” Sondergaard said after that hearing, according to a report by Michael Rellahan in the West Chester Daily Local. “It is clear you have not learned your lesson.”