LIMA — A Lima man faces the prospect of life behind bars when he is sentenced next month for committing a pair of murders last spring.
Kenyatta Washington, charged in the shooting deaths of Romelo Blackman and John Dyes and for shooting and injuring Shondale Mayo that same evening, entered into an agreement with prosecutors Wednesday and entered guilty pleas to two counts of murder and one count of felonious assault. Each count includes a three-year firearm specification.
Through his pleas Washington, 27, admitted he shot and killed Blackman, 28, and Dyes, 18, at a residence on West McKibben Street in Lima shortly before 11 p.m. on April 22.
Washington pleaded guilty to felonious assault in connection with a shooting less than an hour earlier that evening on South Roberts Avenue that left Shondale Mayo Jr., 21, suffering from gunshot wounds.
The murder counts, unclassified felonies, carry a potential sentence of 15 years to life. If Allen County Common Pleas Court Judge Terri Kohlrieser chooses to impose the maximum prison term on each charge, and order the sentences to be served consecutively, Washington would spend a minimum of more than five decades behind bars.
Washington was indicted by an Allen County grand jury in June of last year on two counts of aggravated murder, two counts of murder, one count of aggravated burglary and one count of felonious assault. The plea deal accepted by Washington on Wednesday called for the dismissal of three of the charges.
Washington left the state following the April 2023 shooting spree and was extradited a week later from Louisiana, where he was being held by police.
In a phone conversation with The Lima News following Washington’s arrest, Blackman’s father attempted to dispel rumors that his son’s death was gang-related.
“This was definitely not a gang-related shooting. The truth goes way beyond gang-related,” Steve Allen Jr. told the newspaper. “My son was brutally murdered by his best friend … without a fight and without an argument.”
Allen said Washington and Romelo had been close friends for years and that Washington lived with Blackman for a time. He believed Washington’s actions were linked to his recent discharge from the Army.
“Something is going on over there — in the Army. They’re discharging people with mental conditions. Somebody’s eyes need to be opened to people who are coming home from the military with mental issues,” Allen said at the time.
