Pictured is 17-year-old Hershawna Rias Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com.
CLEVELAND, Ohio- A Columbus man has been charged with aggravated murder in the April 8 shooting death of 17-year-old Hershawna Rias of Cleveland, and more charges are expected in the case.
Esperanza Lugo, 18, remains jailed on $100,000 bond.
He appeared for his felony arraignment in Cleveland Municipal Court on Tuesday morning and his appointed attorney has requested a preliminary hearing on his behalf.
The Black girl's dead body was discovered at Martin Luther King Park on Cleveland's largely Black east side with multiple gun shot wounds to her head, police said.
Rias was found by park personnel lying dead in the grass about 11:40 a.m. on April 8, according to the Cuyahoga County medical examiner’s office.
The park is at East 107th Street at Elk Avenue in Ward 10 in the Glenville neighborhood.
A frequent runaway who spent time in foster care, Rias was reported missing on the most recent occasion on April 6, two days before she was shot and killed.
Community activists had called for swift action in the case.
"We want the killer or killers of this 17-year-old Black Cleveland girl found dead in a city park with multiple gun shot wounds to the head apprehended, longtime Cleveland activist Kathy Wray Coleman, who leads imperial Women Coalition, said after Rias' body was found nearly two weeks ago.
Coleman called the gruesome murder "inexcusable and a pattern of unsolved murders of young Black Cleveland women and girls that law enforcement officials and city leaders appear to be ignoring."
Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com.
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