Dayton police: Mother shot with 4-year-old in back seat not the intended target

A woman who died after she was shot while riding in the back seat of a vehicle with her 4-year-old daughter was not the intended target of the shooting, according to Dayton police.

Jermea Lyle, 26, was pronounced dead at Miami Valley Hospital Saturday after her boyfriend drove her to the hospital.

Dayton police arrested a 23-year-old suspect at his home Wednesday. Formal charges are expected to be filed later before the weekend, said Dayton police Maj. Brian Johns.

“We do know that Miss Lyle was not the intended target,” he said. “It does appear this homicide occurred as the result of an ongoing dispute our front seat passenger in that motor vehicle had with a coworker that had been going on for a little bit of time.”

The shooting reportedly stemmed from money.

“This is a dispute over some money that in the grand scheme of things isn’t very much money to take somebody’s life over,” Johns said. “Now this guy will have to live with that and be held accountable for his actions.”

Investigators were able to identify a suspect using Flock license plate reader cameras and the National Integrated Ballistic Identification Network.

“Thanks to the Flock cameras we were able to identify the suspect vehicle,” Johns said. “We do know that vehicle was traveling about 10 seconds or so behind our victim’s vehicle as it left the area of the airport and traveling into the City of Dayton.”

There were no signs of road rage.

Credit: Marshall Gorby

Credit: Marshall Gorby

Investigators recovered the suspect vehicle and weapon while serving a search warrant. Data from NIBIN connected the firearm to the shooting and to a shell recovered at the scene, Johns said.

The shooting took place around 7:10 a.m. Saturday while Lyle’s boyfriend was giving a ride to an employee of a business near the Dayton International Airport. Lyle and their daughter were in the backseat. They were heading south on Interstate 75 and took the off-ramp to U.S. 35 West when Lyle’s boyfriend reportedly heard a pop.

“After the gunshot went off, he began to hear his girlfriend screaming that she had been shot,” Johns said previously.

Investigators determined two rounds were fired from behind the victim’s vehicle, with one hitting the vehicle.

The round hit the trunk and went through the back seat, striking Lyle, Johns said.

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