A third gunman pleaded guilty in a shooting that killed a man as he sat at Thanksgiving dinner last year
Tymere Parker was sentenced to 25-to-50 years in state prison on Tuesday, the day he was expected to go to trial.
One of three men who held a gunfight on a residential street in Norristown last year, launching a stray bullet that pierced a home and killed a man as he sat at Thanksgiving dinner with his family, pleaded guilty to third-degree murder and related charges Tuesday and was sentenced to decades in prison.
Tymere Parker, 21, was awaiting trial on murder charges when he made a last-minute decision to accept a deal offered by the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office and pleaded guilty to third-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder.
Parker was sentenced to 25 to 50 years in state prison, the same term given a day earlier to codefendant Savian Creary for instigating a shooting that killed Edilberto Miguel Pelaez Moctezuma, 25, in November 2021.
Parker’s attorney, Todd Fiore, said afterward that the case was “very difficult” and tragic.
“I’m just happy that everyone got a fair result,” Fiore said. “The family got justice, and my client will live on to see the light of day.”
Creary, 20, and Parker had targeted a third man, Kevon Clarke, 20, staking out Clarke’s home on Basin Street with guns drawn, and waiting for him to come outside, according to prosecutors. When Clarke emerged from the home, his attackers opened fire, chasing him toward the corner of Basin and Arch Streets.
» READ MORE: A Norristown teenager’s gunfire killed a man eating Thanksgiving dinner with his family, police say
At that intersection, Clarke returned fire with his own gun, firing seven shots. One of those bullets flew through the window of the home where Pelaez Moctezuma was finishing his Thanksgiving meal. He was struck once in the back and died a short time later at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center.
Pelaez Moctezuma’s family testified Monday that his loss has had a profound impact on their lives, and that celebrating holidays has been difficult since the shooting.
Clarke pleaded guilty Monday to third-degree murder and was sentenced to 20 to 40 years in state prison. All three men were charged with Pelaez Moctezuma’s murder under the legal principle of transferred intent: Though they didn’t target Pelaez Moctezuma or intend to harm him, their actions started a chain of events leading to his killing.