Two Convicted in Gang-Related Crimes

Posted on 6/23/2021

Defendant:

Two Columbus men were convicted following a 17-day jury trial on Monday, June 21st of Participating in a Criminal Gang along with several other felony crimes. Specifically, the jury convicted Shon D. Gardner, Jr., 21, and Jermaine Lamar Lathon, 28, of actively participating in a criminal gang known as Everything King Terk (EKT), along with aggravated riot and inducing panic; felony charges which stemmed from a violent assault at Scene 75 at Tuttle Mall in October of 2019.
 
That night, both men, along with seven of their fellow gang members attacked a rival gang at the family-friendly entertainment venue. Their actions forced Scene 75 to shut down for the night and caused substantial financial losses. Lathon was also convicted of assaulting one of the Scene 75 employees during what one witness described at trial as “mad chaos.”
 
In addition, the jury convicted Lathon of felony crimes arising from three separate incidents involving the illegal use of a firearm in 2018 and 2019. As for Gardner, who was on juvenile parole at the time of the offenses for a home invasion from 2015, the jury convicted him of five separate felonies following an incident where he took police on a high speed chase while armed with a firearm in the Linden area in 2018. Sentencing for both individuals is presently set for August 10th, 2021.

“These cases were quite entangled with each other as well as existing prior cases involving each defendant,” said Prosecutor G. Gary Tyack. He went on to say, “The complexity of these cases in which the assigned prosecutors were able to successfully secure convictions is a testament to their talent and dedication to justice, as well as the hard work of the Columbus Division of Police.”