19-year-old sentenced for fatal shooting with bottle rocket

FILE – St. Louis County Courthouse

ST. LOUIS – A St. Louis man was sentenced Monday to 22 years in prison for shooting another man to death with a bottle rocket.

The shooting occurred on July 12, 2022, at approximately 11:00 p.m. in the 2500 block of Semple Avenue in the city’s Wells-Goodfellow neighborhood.

Prosecutors said Devin Griffin-Curry was at his grandparents’ home that night while his neighbor Rickey Jemore Lathan, 35, was outside with two of his six children, setting off fireworks.

The bottle rocket flew over Semple and hit the house of Griffin-Curry’s grandparents.

Griffin-Curry’s grandfather went outside and confronted Lathan, telling him to take the fireworks to an empty parking lot. While they were arguing, Griffin-Curry grabbed a 9mm handgun, ran out the back of the house and shot Lathan nine times.

Lathan died on the spot.

Griffin-Curry, who was 16 at the time of the shooting, was deemed an adult and could stand trial. He was convicted of second-degree murder and armed criminal action.