BY JANE PRENDERGAST
The Cincinnati Enquirer
COVINGTON -- Police hope to talk today with the 17-year-old most seriously injured in last week's pawn shop shootout.
Investigators now think the juvenile might have been shot twice when clerk George Waters faked a heart attack, fell below the counter and rose back up with his loaded weapon to shoot two teen-agers police say were trying to rob him.
The 17-year-old male's condition has improved, from critical to serious. At one point, it was possible that one of his arms might have had to be amputated, Taylor Mill Police Chief Steve Knauf said.
While the 17-year-old remained in St. Elizabeth Medical Center in Edgewood on Monday, two of his alleged accomplices appeared in court.
A judge ordered the 15-year-old boy -- he and the 17-year-old are accused of storming into the store with guns -- held in detention pending a hearing later to determine whether he will be tried as an adult.
The man accused of being the getaway driver, Travis Matthew Evans, 18, of Erlanger, also made his first court appearance.
At the time of the Thursday robbery, he was out of jail on $2,500 bond for an unrelated burglary of a house on his street, Brightleaf Boulevard in Erlanger.
In that case, he was charged with burglary and theft by unlawful taking, both charges that are pending before the grand jury for possible indictment. Court papers described Mr. Evans, who turned 18 six weeks ago, as a Simon Kenton High School student.
As for George Waters, the clerk, it appears that he will not be charged, Chief Knauf said Monday, after a meeting with Commonwealth Attorney Don Buring.
"Unless something blatant comes out," the chief said, "I think it's purely self-defense."
The fact that one of the guns involved, a BB gun, might not be considered a "real" gun doesn't matter, Chief Knauf said, adding Mr. Waters still had reason to feel threatened. The other weapon police found was a .22-caliber handgun, according to the search warrant.
A third juvenile, who police say waited in the car with Mr. Evans, has not been charged. But that doesn't mean he won't be, said Chief Knauf, who said Monday the teen-ager claims he was in the car but that he had no idea what his friends got out of the car to do.
The chief said he found it hard to believe the juvenile could be there "and just have no knowledge of what was going on. Like they got out of the car with ski masks on and were going around the corner to play basketball."
Mr. Edmondson said he also wants to try to have the third teen tried in adult court.
Like Mr. Evans, he can be charged even though he did not go in the store -- if authorities have some evidence that he knew what was going to happen, the chief said.
For the other two juveniles, a decision to try them in adult court is little more than a formality, the chief and Mr. Edmondson said. Kentucky law requires teen-agers 14 or older to be tried as adults if they commit a felony, such as robbery, with a gun.
