17-year-old will be tried as an adult
A Henderson teenager was indicted in early March for the death of Clifford Hargis, an East End resident who died from injuries sustained in a December shooting.
Seventeen-year-old Cameron Gilbert was indicted March 4 on four charges stemming from incidents that occurred on Dec. 14, according to the indictment obtained from the Henderson County Circuit Court Clerk’s office.
Gilbert’s charges include:
- Murder, a class A felony
- First-degree wanton endangerment
- Possession of a handgun by a minor
- First-degree criminal mischief
Gilbert has entered a not guilty plea. He is represented by local attorney Dax Womack.
A trial has been set for August 19, with a pre-trial conference scheduled for Aug. 11, according to court files.
Henderson County Commonwealth’s Attorney Herb McKee, Jr., told the Hendersonian that the grand jury indicted Gilbert as a youthful offender, which is when a juvenile is charged as an adult. But he couldn’t speak more about the case.
“Our office can’t make any specific comments about the case, considering this is an active case set for trial,” he wrote in a message.
Additionally, the commonwealth’s attorney said he couldn’t speak specifically about the reasons for Gilbert being tried as an adult. He referred the Hendersonian to state statute.
According to Kentucky Revised Statutes 635.020 (4)(B)(2):
“The child shall be transferred to the Circuit Court for trial as an adult if, following a preliminary hearing, the District Court finds probable cause to believe that:
- The child committed a Class A, B, or C felony
- A firearm was used by the child in the commission of that felony
- The child was fifteen (15) years of age or older at the time of the commission of the alleged felony.”
Gilbert, now 17, was 16 at the time of the incident.
According to previous reporting in the Hendersonian, police say Hargis was shot on Dec. 14 and taken to the hospital, where officials initially thought he would recover. But on Dec. 17, he was pronounced dead at Deaconess Midtown in Evansville.
Henderson police said officers responded to a report of shots fired around Mill and O’Byrne at 11:16 p.m. on the night of the incident.
While officers drove to the location of the initial call, another call was placed from the 1220 block of Loeb in which it was reported that Hargis had suffered from a gunshot wound to the abdomen, police said.
Officers learned Hargis, 63, had been shot in front of 609 Mill St. while confronting a group of people near his truck, police said.
As the investigation of the shooting of Hargis was beginning that night, more calls were made that more shots had been fired in the 1200 block of Cumnock Street, which is nearby, police said.
Police said at the time of the incident that at least one home was struck from gunfire but there were no reported injuries from that. The indictment said that the wanton endangerment charge came from when Gilbert shot a gun into a home in the area.
A message was left at Womack’s office. He did not return the call before this article was posted.