BCI analysts, Vermilion detectives say ballistics and cell phone data point to Jacob Bray in shooting spree

ELYRIA — Ballistics evidence and cellular phone data tie Jacob Bray to a series of drive-by shootings in a Vermilion residential neighborhood last summer, Vermilion police detectives told a Lorain County Common Pleas jury on Tuesday. Bray, 19, of Sheffield Lake, is free on bond on charges of felonious assault, improperly discharging a firearm at or into a habitation or school safety zone, discharging a firearm on or near a prohibited premises, tampering with evidence, improperly handling firearms in a motor vehicle and improperly furnishing firearms to a minor plus firearms and drive-by shooting specifications. He has pleaded not guilty. No one was injured in the multiple shootings along Brownhelm Station Road and Sunnyside Road early on the morning of July 23, 2025, but residents testified they woke up to loud sounds that turned out to be gunshots. Some of the bullets came from an Anderson Manufacturing AM-15 — a semi-automatic rifle similar in style and appearance to an AR-15 — and an Akkar Churchill 20-gauge shotgun, according to Vermilion police and the Lorain County Prosecutor's Office. Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification firearms analyst Alex Miller testified Tuesday that 5.56-by-45 mm shell casings found at the scenes of the shootings by citizens and Vermilion police were fired by Bray's AM-15. Extractor marks also proved Bray's shotgun ejected a spent 20-gauge shell that was recovered by police, Miller said, though her testing couldn't prove who fired either gun or when, she said. Both guns were found at Bray's North Abbe Road home when police served a search warrant there on Aug. 1, 2025. Vermilion police Detective Kinzie Chandler testified that Bray arrived at his home while she, fellow Vermilion police, Sheffield Lake police and the Lorain County SWAT team were searching it and willingly led investigators to where the guns were hidden. Bray "showed us where he had put them," Chandler testified: Wrapped inside blankets in the storage compartment of a broken-down tow truck on the property. Defense attorney Jason Harless told jurors Monday that although his client possessed the guns, no DNA linked him to the shootings, a fact to which BCI forensic analyst Lindsey Deetz attested. But Bray's DNA not being on any of the shell casings isn't unusual, because the heat generated inside a gun when it's fired can destroy DNA, she testified. The guns were not tested for DNA. Residents of Brownhelm Station Road first reported shots fired in the 3400 and 3800 blocks around 3:30 a.m. July 23, 2025. A house on the 3400 block of Brownhelm Station Road was struck by gunfire. The lone resident who was home at the time wasn't injured, but was terrified when a bullet passed through the wall of her bedroom. She and her neighbors did not see and could not identify the shooter or shooters, they testified. A resident of Sunnyside Road testified Tuesday she heard a loud sound around 5:30 a.m. and found a shotgun shell at the end of their driveway later that day around noon. Vermilion police collected it as evidence. No surveillance cameras caught the shooters or their vehicle. Vermilion police and county prosecutors allege it was a black Ford F-150 pickup with with a silver tool box installed in the bed, like the one registered to Bray's father, was caught on Flock license plate readers near Vermilion before and after the shootings. Bray showed up in a similar truck during the Aug. 1, 2025, police search of his residence, Chandler testified. Vermilion police Detective Sgt. Dale Reising testified that Bray's Apple iPhone tried to connect to several cellphone towers and wifi signals in Vermilion on July 23, 2025, meaning Bray was in Vermilion at the time of the shootings. Bray's alleged accomplice, a 16-year-old Lorain boy whom The Chronicle-Telegram is not naming due to his age, has been charged in Juvenile Court. Chandler testified that Vermilion police searched for but did not find any evidence in the house that boy shared with his grandfather. Harless used his opening statement to blame that boy for the shootings. Vermilion police got a tip the boy was involved in the shootings, which led to both the boy and Bray being investigated and charged. Assistant Prosecutor Brian James is presenting the state's case. Testimony resumes today in Judge Giovanna Bremke's courtroom. Bremke told jurors they could get the case as soon as Wednesday. Contact Dave O'Brien at 440-329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com.