Final sentences handed out in gang shooting

Levittown - MOUNT HOLLY - Shelley Scott once again found herself in court, where she has been countless times since 2006, when her sons were gunned down on her Willingboro front porch by members of the Bloods street gang looking to exact revenge.

On Friday, as the final five Burlington County men were sentenced for their roles in the deadly shooting, Scott told them what the violence they committed on her doorstep has meant.

She spoke of the deafening gunshot blast that started her nightmare, of performing CPR on her own child in a failed attempt to revive him, of picking out clothes to bury her 18-year-old son, and of cleaning out the house they shared when she could not bear to return. She told the judge of family weddings and a birth without her son, LaVonne Adkins, and of sitting by his grave in the freezing cold the first Christmas he was gone so he would not be alone.

"It's knowing your son died a horrifying death," Scott said. "...There is not enough time to heal."

As she spoke, some of the men hung their heads, and all would offer apologies and condolences when it was their turn to address the court.

Superior Court Judge John A. Almeida sentenced Khalil Campbell of Edgewater Park and Al-Jaheem Brown and Robert Rodriguez, both of Willingboro, to 10 years each in state prison, in accordance with their pleas to manslaughter and aggravated assault charges with the Burlington County Prosecutor's Office.

Adam LeGrand of Willingboro and Maurice Brown of Mount Laurel were sentenced to five years for manslaughter and aggravated assault.

All have been in custody since shortly after the shootings and must serve 85 percent of their sentences before being eligible for parole, Assistant Prosecutor Michael Mormando said. Their plea deals were made because of their cooperation with law enforcement and their willingness to testify at the trial of ranking gang members who ordered and carried out the hit, Mormando said.

"Your teen years and much of your 20s will be spent in a prison facility. For what? What's the point?" Almeida said. "An organization like the Bloods will eventually fall under its own weight."

At the sentencing the men spoke about not wanting to kill Adkins and some even said they tried to warn him before the shootings. They said they feared for their own lives if they didn't follow orders from ranking members and expressed regret for joining the violent group.

"I respect LaVonne for trying to get away from the monster we were all entrapped by. He was a real man," Maurice Brown said. "You can't just walk away from the gang culture. It brings death. ... I had a promising career in the military and I lost all that now. In the same token LaVonne has lost all that forever."

The five defendants were foot soldiers in the Camden-based G-Shine set of the Bloods. While none of the men pulled the trigger that killed Adkins and critically injured his brother, Eric, on Feb. 15, 2006, they all accompanied the gunman, Shawn Cook, to the Adkinses' Melbourne Lane home. Eric Adkins was not a target of the gang and had no gang affiliation.

Cook, a ranking gang member, is serving 30 years for the shootings.

The "four-star general" of G-Shine, Tarell Ambrose of Camden, is serving 22 years for ordering the hit on LaVonne Adkins and defendant Maurice Brown.

Brown, who drove the getaway car in the Adkinses shootings, was nearly killed hours later in Camden when Cook turned a gun on him and tried to execute him for being a "snitch."

Ambrose ordered them killed from inside Camden County Jail, where he was incarcerated in an unrelated shooting, and his former girlfriend delivered the order, according to court testimony. He wanted Adkins and Brown dead for breaking gang rules. Brown had cooperated with authorities and Adkins had missed gang meetings, according to prosecutors.

Nina Sheppard of Camden is serving a five-year sentence for her role in the shootings. Another ranking member, Joseph Townsend of Camden, who was 17 at the time, is serving 20 years.

In total nine gang members were charged and ultimately pleaded guilty in the shootings. The cases against Ambrose, Cook and Sheppard originally went before a jury, but Almeida declared a mistrial after several days of testimony when a problem arose with a juror.

They pleaded guilty before a scheduled retrial this year.

Scott attended every hearing and every sentencing. She also testified at trial and was prepared to testify again.

"LaVonne's murderers were intending to do harm. They planned to execute him. ... Their lives were not in danger. They attacked my son for no valid reason," she said Friday.

The judge agreed, calling their involvement in the gang culture "destructive, tragic, violent and senseless."

The Adkins murder shed light on growing gang activity in Burlington County at the time.

"An organization like the Bloods, an organization like the Army, an organization like the Knights of Columbus all depend on one thing. They depend on members following leaders to accomplish a goal," Almeida said. "If you had refused to follow the purported leaders of the Bloods, there would be no organization."

Campbell, who grew up in the state's foster system, told Almeida he joined after others talked it up and "glamorized the gang life."

"I wanted a brotherhood because I had no family," he said. "Once you join you see the other side of it. There's only two ways out. ... I had no way out."

Contact: dcamilli@phillyBurbs.comor 609-267-7586

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