A 24-year-old Dayton man is facing multiple felony charges after Urbana police say he fired shots into an occupied home on Hagenbuch Street late Sunday night. No injuries were reported, but Re'Quan Jemar Roberts now faces five counts of felonious assault and a charge of improperly discharging a firearm into a habitation, both second-degree felonies under Ohio law.
According to the Springfield News-Sun, Urbana police were called to the 700 block of Hagenbuch Street shortly after 10:30 p.m. Sunday, where they found that shots had been fired into a residential dwelling. Investigators initially said there were no reported injuries at the scene, and no arrests were made on the spot, per the same account. Roberts, who lives in Dayton, is a resident of a city more than 25 miles from the shooting scene, according to Peak of Ohio.
Roberts did not surrender at the scene. Instead, the report notes he turned himself in at the neighboring Clark County Jail before being transported to the Urbana Police Department and later held at the Tri-County Regional Jail in Mechanicsburg.
A Regional Jail Serving Three Counties
The Tri-County Regional Jail is a joint facility serving Champaign, Madison, and Union counties, according to the Union County government. Champaign County courts also lean on community supervision tools, including the West Central Community Correctional Facility, to manage the regional jail's population, per the Champaign County Common Pleas Court.
Roberts was arraigned by video in Champaign County Municipal Court on Monday, where he was appointed defense counsel, issued several mandatory no-contact orders, and given a $100,000 cash or surety bond with no 10% option, Peak of Ohio reports. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for Friday, August 21.
What the Charges Could Mean
Each of the five felonious assault counts against Roberts, filed under Ohio Revised Code § 2903.11, carries a potential 2 to 8 years in prison and fines up to $15,000 per count under the state's Reagan Tokes sentencing framework, according to Ohio law. The improper-discharge charge, under Ohio Revised Code § 2923.161, is also a second-degree felony that carries a mandatory 2 to 8 years in prison and fines up to $15,000, per the Ohio Revised Code. Taken together, the charges expose Roberts to significant cumulative prison time if convicted on all counts.
Urbana Police Chief Josh Jacobs said police believe the shooting was an isolated incident and did not pose an ongoing public threat. Police have not released further information about the case at this time, and it remains unclear what connection, if any, Roberts had to the Hagenbuch Street residence or its occupants, or what evidence led investigators to identify him before he turned himself in.
A Department Managing a Second Major Incident This Year
Chief Jacobs, a 25-year veteran of the department and an Urbana High School graduate, was appointed to the top post in April, according to the Springfield News-Sun's Facebook page. His division covers roughly 11,793 residents across 7.77 square miles with an authorized force of 23 officers, per the City of Urbana.
The Hagenbuch Street shooting comes months after Urbana police handled another major violent incident, an officer-involved shooting on West Church Street in May that was investigated by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation. That case was unrelated to Sunday's shooting, but it marks a second high-profile violent crime episode for the department this year.
