Teen Posts Gun Pic To Instagram, Indicted For Heights' Carjacking

CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, OH — An accused carjacker and bank robber has been arrested and indicted in federal court, the Department of Justice announced Thursday. Lashawn Davis, an 18-year-old from East Cleveland, allegedly used a gun to steal a car in Cleveland Heights, before robbing a bank in Richmond Heights.

“If you point a firearm at someone while robbing them, we will work to send you to prison for as long as the law allows,” said U.S. Attorney Justin E. Herdman in a statement. “This case is a great example of law enforcement working together to get a dangerous criminal off the streets.”

The Department of Justice's court documents and statements paint a picture of a teenager caught in a whirlwind of bad decisions.

On Jan. 3, 2018, Davis posted a photo to Instagram showing himself holding two new Glock pistol boxes, the Department of Justice said. Nearly a month later, he allegedly used a gun to carjack someone in Cleveland Heights.

The 18-year-old supposedly stole a 2016 Hyundai Elantra from someone on Coventry Road in Cleveland Heights on Feb. 4. Then, about two weeks later, the license plate from that car was seen on the getaway vehicle at a bank robbery in Richmond Heights.

The Dollar Bank on Wilson Mills Road was targeted by bank robbers multiple times over the past six months. The most recent robbery happened Feb. 17. That's when two men walked into the bank at 5201 Wilson Mills Road. The suspects demanded money from the tellers. One of the suspects vaulted the counter.

The second suspect held the people inside the bank at gunpoint. An employee of the bank heard a robber yell: “you got five seconds or I’m going to (expletive) kill you,” according to court documents.

The Department of Justice believes one of those men was Lashawn Davis. That's because one of the people inside the bank described the gun being pointed at staffers and customers as having two circles inside the area of the muzzle, court documents said.

When law enforcement searched Davis' residence they found a revolver and a Glock 27 pistol, with an attached red laser sight. The muzzle and the laser sight appeared as circles when paired together, the DOJ said.

Agents also allegedly found a new stack of $2 bills inside Davis' bedrooms. A new stack of $2 bill was stolen during the bank robbery, court documents said.

Also, one of the bank's employees was able to capture the license plate of the robbers' getaway vehicle. It was the same license plate that had been on the Elantra carjacked in Cleveland Heights on Feb. 4, the Department of Justice said.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Cleveland Division of Police, the Cleveland Heights Police Department and the Richmond Heights Police Department, with assistance from the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Crime Strategies Unit.

Photo from Shutterstock