‘It felt like Ronnie died all over again:’ Kettering shooting victim’s mother speaks out on verdict

Ronnie Bowers

Ronnie Bowers

The mother of the Fairmont High School student killed after being shot by a Kettering teen on trial last week on murder charges was disappointed with the jury’s verdict Friday night.

In a statement released to this news organization, the mother of Ronnie Bowers said the verdict in Kylen Gregory’s murder trial made her feel “like Ronnie died all over again.”

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The jury of nine women and three men found Gregory, 18, guilty of two counts of reckless homicide — charges for which he was never indicted — and one count of discharging a firearm at or near a prohibited premise.

“Ronnie is the one that suffered,” Bowers’ mother Jessica Combs said in the statement. “Ronnie paid the ultimate price by losing his life. Myself – along with my family and friends – are the ones serving a life sentence. Friday evening it felt like Ronnie died all over again. It rocked me back to Sept. 4, 2016.”

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Gregory was indicted on — and pleaded not guilty to — two counts of murder, five counts of felonious assault and one count of discharging a firearm at or near a prohibited premise stemming from the incident of Sept. 4, 2016, that happened near that weekend’s AlterFest event.

If found guilty of the murder counts, Gregory would have faced 20 or more years to life in prison, according to his defense attorney. With the charges he was convicted on Friday, those counts could put him in prison as many as 17 years in prison.

A sentencing date has not been set for Gregory.

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