Left inset: Travon Robinson (Franklin County Sheriff’s Office). Right inset: Broderick “BJ” Harper (GoFundMe). Background: Surveillance footage showing Broderick “BJ” Harper riding a scooter with three others in front of the Ohio Statehouse before he was gunned down by Travon Robinson (WBNS/YouTube).
An Ohio teenager was tragically shot and killed while riding scooters with acquaintances he had met through social media. The incident occurred in front of the Ohio Statehouse. The shooter, who was 16 at the time of the crime and is now 20, has pled guilty to involuntary manslaughter and received a prison sentence exceeding 10 years this week.
During the sentencing on Tuesday, Franklin County Judge Julie Lynch addressed Travon Robinson, saying, “You don’t care if you kill, you don’t care if you go to prison,” as reported by local CBS affiliate WBNS.
Prosecutors and Erica Coit, the mother of the victim, Broderick “BJ” Harper, revealed that Robinson, described as Harper’s friend, attempted to rob Harper on May 29, 2022, as they rode electric scooters together.
“I told him to be careful and that was the last time we texted,” Coit recounted to WBNS in April 2023 after Robinson’s arrest, which followed a nearly year-long investigation.
Surveillance footage captured four individuals on scooters, including Harper and Robinson, as they passed the statehouse and paused near its front steps. The video shows Harper falling backward after being shot by Robinson, according to police reports.
The footage also shows two individuals fleeing the scene on foot and another departing on a scooter, as reported by WBNS. Police later identified one of the fleeing individuals as Robinson, who chose not to speak or express any remorse during his sentencing.
“There’s a lack of remorse and there’s a lack of accountability,” Franklin County prosecutor Chris Clark told the court Tuesday. “When you factor in that and then you look at his record … in juvenile court, just constantly in and out on charges ranging from stolen cars to guns to robbery, he is a threat to the community.”
Harper’s father, who attended the sentencing and spoke to WBNS, said Robinson being remorseful “wouldn’t have mattered” — he doesn’t forgive the young man for what happened.
“Nope, not at all,” said Broderick Harper Sr. “The sorry, a tear, anything like that wouldn’t have mattered. We all knew that there was not gonna be no type of remorse at all.”
Lynch scolded Robinson in court for his “demeanor,” telling him “you don’t care” about the outcome of the case and his actions.
“You don’t care what happens,” Lynch repeated. “We’re supposed to say, ‘They’re only children.’ They’re not children. You put a gun in someone’s hand and you are no longer a child. You’re a threat.”
Robinson was initially booked on murder and weapons charges after a mandatory bind over to adult court in April 2023, according to online records. He pleaded guilty in September to involuntary manslaughter with a gun specification and was sentenced to a term of 14 to 19 years in prison Tuesday, with credit given for two years that Robinson already spent behind bars.
