‘He needs to die.’ SC teen was 15 when he helped kill his father after discipline
Back in November of 2022, Ja’Ontae Ingram was 15 years old. His grandmother had raised him, but months earlier he went to live with his dad, Larry Ingram Jr.
But that day he and his 14-year-old cousin and two other kids at the apartment got mad when Ingram’s father disciplined them for making too much noise.
So mad they hatched a plot to lure Larry Ingram Jr. out of a bedroom. Not to say they would quiet down, or to apologize for being loud.
But to shoot him dead.
Prosecutor Whitney Payne told visiting Judge David Caraker on Wednesday in York County adult criminal court about what Ja’Ontae said to the other boys that day about his own father.
“He needs to die,” Payne said Ja’Ontae told the others. “We need to kill him.”
One of the boys threw a doorknob at a wall to make a loud noise. Larry Ingram Jr. came out of a bedroom. 14-year-old Ka’Marion Janaz Coffey — Ja’ontae Ingram’s cousin and Larry Ingram’s nephew — shot Larry Ingram Jr. twice in the back of the head.
Coffey had taken the gun earlier from a different family member, Payne said.
Larry Ingram Jr. fell to the ground after being shot, then Coffey shot him again. He died at age 38.
Then the boys hid the gun in woods outside. When the police arrived and found the boys at a gas station nearby, the boys lied and claimed Ingram had been arguing with his girlfriend. Rock Hill police detectives figured out the boys had been the culprits and arrested all four for murder.
He (Ja’Ontae) was very much an instigator,” Payne said in court. “Without him saying he wanted Larry to die, this would not have happened.”
Adult plea and consequences
Ja’Ontae Ingram, now 17 years old, pleaded guilty Wednesday in York County adult court to voluntary manslaughter for a 13-year sentence negotiated between prosecutors from the 16th Circuit Solicitor’s Office and his lawyers.
Until Wednesday, his case had been handled in South Carolina Family Court under juvenile status. But he and his lawyers agreed that his case be waived up to adult court, where he would accept adult consequences.
He pleaded guilty under what is called an Alford plea. In an Alford plea, a defendant does not have to admit guilt, but accepts he would likely be found guilty if there was a trial, Judge Caraker said. The defendant also agrees there is a benefit to pleading guilty. In this case, the benefit is prosecutors dropped the charge from murder to manslaughter.
He will serve an adult sentence in the S.C. Department of Corrections.
Apologies in court
Ja’Ontae Ingram told Judge Caraker he was sorry for what he did and how it devastated his family.
“I apologize to them, and I love them,” he said.
One of Ingram’s lawyers, Melissa Inzerillo of the York County Public Defender’s Office, said Ja’Ontae complained about his father and when a plan was hatched to kill his father, he didn’t stop it. But he didn’t pull the trigger and has been remorseful ever since after initially lying to police.
“He’s been grieving his father ... and will continue to grieve his father for the rest of his life,” Inzerillo said.
Family hurt by killing
Ingram’s grandmother — Larry Ingram Jr.’s mother — told Judge Caraker she had forgiven him and to trust in God while in prison.
“Keep on praying ... I love you,” she said.
Larry Ingram Jr.’s sister told the judge JaOntae “hurt the family” when he played a part in the killing. She said Larry Ingram Jr. was trying to keep the boys out of trouble when he was killed.
She said she loved Ja’Ontae and forgave him, and hopes when he gets out of prison he will get on the right path.
What happens now?
The guilty plea Wednesday ends the criminal cases against all four of the boys involved.
Ja’ontae Ingram gets credit for 884 days he’s been in jail since his arrest toward his 13-year sentence.
The triggerman, his cousin Ka’Marion Janaz Coffey, admitted last year in court he shot Larry Ingram Jr. Coffey got 20 years in adult prison after pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter and possession of a weapon during a violent crime.
The two other boys involved to a lesser extent were sentenced to juvenile jail from Family Court guilty pleas that will end by age 22, Payne said.
