Artwon Oliver Shooting Suspects Ordered to Provide DNA Samples

Men suspected of killing 16-year-old Artwon Oliver were ordered to provide DNA samples during a pretrial meeting Wednesday.

Prosecutors requested that the four adult defendants’ DNA be tested and compared to evidence collected after the , and Judge Janet Burnside granted the motion.

Dominique King, 19, of Cleveland, Antonio Kirk, 18, of Euclid, Jamal Cammack, 18, of Cleveland and Thomas White, 20, of Cleveland, were on of killing Artwon near Sunoco gas station on Lee and Superior roads Nov. 26. They each . The were also indicted on other charges including aggravated rioting, aggravated murder and felonious assault in the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas. They are each being held on a $750,000 bond.

King was arrested Nov. 28, and his car was towed, as investigators suspected it was one of two cars involved in the crime. Police said two cars pulled up to the gas station, and several men got out and started to fight Artwon and his friends, according to court documents.

The Bureau of Criminal Identification & Investigation found DNA evidence on several door handles throughout the car, according to court documents. Both the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiners office, which collected six items for DNA testing, and the bureau requested that each defendant receive a DNA test.

Burnside ordered that detectives in the Cleveland Heights Police Department take two DNA samples for each defendant, as two agencies have requested testing.

Cleveland Heights Police Chief Jeffrey Robertson provided more details in December about what happened the evening Artwon was shot.

Artwon, of Cleveland Heights, had attended a party on Superior Road and Parkway Drive where police were earlier that night.

A caller reported that there were youth fighting in the area, so police responded to the party just after 11 p.m. When police arrived, no one was fighting, but about 10 males ran out of the side door of the house, and they saw other youth fleeing the party.

Police issued citations to the woman who lived there and to a youth walking in the street and arrested Santwan Jones, 18, of University Heights, for an outstanding warrant with the city, he said.

Artwon and a group of about six left the party and headed to the Sunoco on Superior and Lee for snacks, Robertson said.

As they were leaving, he said one, possibly two cars pulled up to the store. A group of four male suspects got out, and there was a fight. The received numerous calls of a "large disturbance" in the area around 11:45 p.m, and the callers said that they heard at least one to two gunshots.

When police arrived, they saw Artwon laying in the road, just south of Superior on Lee Road.

Artwon was transported to MetroHealth Medical Center by a Cleveland Heights rescue squad and later died from his injuries, according to an earlier statement from police.

Officers tried to administer CPR, but he was unresponsive.

A 17-year-old was also charged with murder, aggravated rioting and participating in criminal gang activity, Robertson said. He is being held in juvenile detention, and he will request that he is tried as an adult.

The next pretrial conference is scheduled for 9 a.m. Feb. 21.

Cleveland Heights Patch will continue to update this article as more information becomes available. Calls to prosecutors involved in this case were not immediately returned.