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A Berks County man who shot and killed an acquaintance, shot multiple rounds at a Pennsylvania College of Technology police officer and robbed a Family Dollar store clerk at gunpoint was given a sentence Thursday of life in state prison without the possibility of parole.
"I want to apologize to their family as well as mine," said Tyree Cleveland, 39, of Sinking Spring, a community west of Reading, in the courtroom of Lycoming County President Judge Nancy L. Butts, upon pleading guilty to first-degree murder, attempted murder, robbery and persons not to possess firearms.
"I am paying my debt. I am taking responsibility for my actions," he said, apologizing to the family of Heather Cohick and to his family.
Cleveland shot and killed Cohick, 41 at the time of her murder, while her toddler son was at the 884 W. Fourth St. residence shortly after 6 a.m. Sept. 28, 2022.
Then about six hours later, Cleveland fired a barrage at Penn College police Lt. David Pletz. Three days before he robbed a store clerk at gunpoint of $242.
Police responded to a shots-fired call at 884 West Fourth St. about 6:23 a.m. and officers saw Cohick's son walking outside the residence in pajamas. The toddler had blood on his clothing, which did not belong to him.
“The naivety of cleaning his mom…he wanted to make her better," District Attorney Ryan Gardner said at the guilty plea hearing.
Butts described the crime as horrific and noted how previous Gov. Tom Wolf placed a moratorium on the death penalty and that Gov. Josh Shapiro seeks to abolish the death penalty.
Butts also noted the anguish of Cohick's family, including her mother, who could not attend, and Heather Cohick's uncle and how that will never go away but that Cleveland's admittance to the crimes would make the hurt not as acute for the family.
Besides the life in prison sentence, the sentence included a consecutive 20 to 40 years.
Details of the moments before Cleveland shot Cohick were revealed at the plea hearing.
Cleveland said he went to Cohick's over a car rental issue. Cleveland said he met Cohick at the doorway and that another man who was identified as "Diego" was inside the residence.
"She tried to grab my gun," Cleveland said.
That is when the gun went off. The bullet struck Cohick in the forehead.
Cleveland then said he instinctively shot another round, this one struck her chin area and hit the jugular vein. Cohick also had a wound on her hand indicating the struggle with the gun.
Cleveland said the first gunshot to the forehead was accidental, but he agreed to take responsibility because based on the likelihood of defending this at a trial and he did not believe the jury would believe the scenario.
Cleveland admitted the second shot was done on purpose.
Butts noted how Cleveland had brought a gun and it was loaded and that he was ineligible to possess a firearm.
The judge observed how the record stated he used the gun in a manner described as accidental but which could be inferred based on the circumstances and the location of the injury that it was not accidental.
Cleveland acknowledged that he did not see "Diego," pull a firearm.
Gardner noted Cohick sustained wounds to the brain and skull and to the right mandible (jaw bone) and jugular vein and that these were at close range based on evidence such as the stippling (gun powder).
While Gardner assented to the statement that the first discharge could be accidental, certainly, he said, the second pull on the trigger was not accidental.
Cleveland when Cohick reached for the gun it was then pointed at her head.
He described the second gunshot to be more instinctive.
Later that day, Peltz was responding to a disturbance call involving a firearm in the 1000 block of Vine Avenue when Cleveland began firing at him and the officer dove for cover to avoid being hit, according to an affidavit in the case.
Cleveland said at his plea hearing that he did not know it was a police officer and believed it was somebody else who might be out for him.
Nicole Spring, county public defender, said the police office did not initiate the shots, nor did Pletz have the police vehicle lights or siren on.
Cleveland shot at the officer 10 times, based on ballistics evidence. Several rounds hit the patrol vehicle. Cleveland said he estimated he was 20 yards from the officer who sought cover behind a small tree. Cleveland was in an open field or vacant lot at the time of the shooting. He ran from the scene but less than a minute later, Cleveland was arrested at gunpoint by Penn College Police Chief Chris Miller who also responded to the disturbance call just north of the campus.
Moments before his capture Cleveland tossed two handguns and some bushes at 1005 W. Fourth St.
The guns were confiscated by the officers and ballistics collected at the Vine Avenue shooting scene confirmed that the bullets Cleveland fired at Pletz came from one of the guns.
At the homicide scene, the 41-year-old was found in the apartment face up on the floor in a pool of blood. She was pronounced dead at the scene. Investigators learned the bullet fragments removed from her body during an autopsy were discharged from the second handgun the officers recovered from in the bushes.
Three days before she was killed Cohick made a report to city police that her vehicle was stolen by a man she identified as James or M, (Mook), who investigators later determined to be Cleveland.
After taking the woman's Chevy Cobalt, Cleveland threatened her by telling her not to call the police.
A police source told police that the only reason Cleveland was in Williamsport in late September was because he was on the run from authorities in Reading, where law enforcement had filed and arrest warrant, according to a story in the Reading Eagle newspaper, which showed his alleged involvement in a fatal shooting of a 53-year old man on Sept. 11.
Three days before the murder and attempted murder of the police officer, Cleveland confessed to robbing the clerk at gunpoint at Family Dollar at 1221 W. Fourth St. at about 9:30 a.m. and then driving away with cash ($242) in hand.
Cleveland also was convicted of robbery in Philadelphia, along with possession with intent to deliver illegal drugs, making him ineligible to possess the .9 mm and .380 handgun used in these crimes, Butts said.
Cleveland has a serious medical condition that required treatment at UPMC Williamsport while he was in Lycoming County Prison. He has asked for a state prison that can attend to such medical conditions.
Cohick, a graduate of Jersey Shore Area School District, went into a health care profession and was a volunteer firefighter.