Donte Parker II indicted in 2024 Lorain murder case

An Elyria man already awaiting trial in three felony criminal cases in Lorain County Common Pleas Court is now facing two dozen more felony and misdemeanor charges, including aggravated murder, after being charged with a 2024 Lorain slaying. Grand jurors on Thursday indicted Donte Parker II, 24, of Bank Street, on 24 additional criminal charges. They include multiple counts of aggravated murder, murder, aggravated robbery, aggravated burglary, felonious assault and tampering with evidence, and lone counts of improperly discharging a firearm at or into a habitation or school safety zone and attempted felonious assault. All are felonies, most with firearms specifications that could add mandatory prison time if Parker is convicted. There also is one count each of theft and criminal damaging or endangering, both misdemeanors. Parker was being held in the Lorain County Jail on $3.65 million bond. He has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges currently against him.A message seeking comment on the murder charges was left for his attorney, Jason Harless. The murder case has not been assigned to a judge. It alleges Parker shot 39-year-old Leonard A. McCall Jr. of Lorain to death in front of a house on West 14th Street in Lorain on Nov. 25, 2024. McCall died of multiple gunshot wounds, according to Lorain police and county prosecutors. In a separate case in September, authorities filed charges including aggravated robbery, kidnapping, strangulation, abduction and telecommunications fraud, all felonies, and misdemeanor assault, aggravated menacing and theft against Parker in another case from 2024. Those charges involved several incidents in December 2024 in which Parker allegedly assaulted an Elyria woman, threatened her with a knife and stole money from her. He also strangled her and threatened to "shoot up" her home, according to the Lorain County Prosecutor's Office. Parker also is charged with escape, illegal weapons possession and obstructing for fleeing police after a Feb. 3 arrest. On that night, Elyria police found Parker, who had outstanding warrants, hiding under a bed in a Washington Avenue apartment with an illegal handgun. Even though he was handcuffed, Parker managed to run away from officers, who for days afterward searched the banks of the Black River for several days fearing he had drowned after escaping. Parker hadn't drowned, and he instead fled to Michigan and possibly elsewhere, with the U.S. Marshals Service and Elyria police in pursuit. He reappeared in Elyria in July, when he unsuccessfully tried to avoid arrest by by swimming across the Black River. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com