Luis Diaz, 3, was fatally shot in his car seat in 2023
An Ohio judge sentenced four people to prison on Tuesday, Feb. 18 in connection with the shooting death of 3-year-old Luis Diaz while he was strapped in his car seat.
Juan Davis, 35, and Devonte Parker, 30, were both sentenced to life imprisonment with the possibility for parole in 49 years. They were found guilty on Feb. 11 of murder, felonious assault, attempted murder, involuntary manslaughter and having weapons under disability in connection with the boy’s death.
Katherine Treadway, 31, who pleaded guilty in January to involuntary manslaughter, attempted murder, felonious assault and having weapons under disability, was sentenced to 20 to 25 years in prison.
Jayden Sorensen, who was 16 at the time of the shooting, was sentenced to 11-to-15 years in prison, after pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter, attempted murder, felonious assault and improperly handling firearms in a motor vehicle.
Prosecutors said that on the afternoon of the killing, Sept. 28, 2023, Treadway and a 31-year-old neighbor, who shared a duplex with her in Cleveland, got into an argument. After the argument, Treadway called Davis, her boyfriend. Davis, along with Parker and Sorensen, drove to a street nearby where Parker, holding a handgun, and Sorensen, holding a rifle, “ran towards the rear of a nearby residence and fired multiple shots across the street,” prosecutors said.
At the time of the shooting, the neighbor was about to get into a vehicle with Luis’s 22-year-old mother — a potential witness against Davis in a domestic violence and aggravated burglary case where Treadway was the alleged victim, prosecutors said.
Katherine Treadway and Jayden Sorensen.
Cleveland 19
Luis was sitting in the back seat with his 11-month-old brother when “at least five gunshots struck the vehicle, including one that traveled through Luis’s car seat, hitting him in the back,” prosecutors said. He was pronounced dead at the hospital.
According to a GoFundMe page, Luis was “ready to head out for a day to visit his grandpa” when he was struck in the chest.
“3-year-old Luis Diaz died because these four defendants are simply idiots,” Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael C. O’Malley said in a press release after Parker and Davis were found guilty. “The issues between Katherine Treadway and Juan Davis led these four to shoot up a car and kill a child. Simply outrageous.”
The neighbor involved in the argument was shot in the foot and taken to a nearby hospital, where he was treated and released. The boy’s mother and brother were not injured in the shooting.
In the GoFundMe post, Luis was described as “a child who loved chips, sizzling bacon, Hot Wheels, the show ‘Octonauts,’ and was so full of life with such a bright future ahead of him.”
Attorneys for Sorenson, Parker and Treadway could not be reached for comment. An attorney representing Davis declined to comment.
