Latest / The Mind of a Man / Down-Low and Dangerous_ The Detroit House Party Massacre [True Crime Documentary]

Transcript

Down-Low and Dangerous_ The Detroit House Party Massacre [True Crime Documentary] · The Mind of a Man

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: In the spring of 2019, a group of 20-somethings spent
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: their weekends partying at a friend's house in East Detroit.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: On one of these nights, in the early morning hours,
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: the unthinkable happened. Jokes and dancing turned to terror when
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: a man in a mask burst through the door, armed
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: with a gun, and began firing. The attack left three
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: friends dead and the remaining two witnesses wounded. Those that
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: survived did not get a clear view of the shooter. Nonetheless,
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: they could point to one person who they believed could
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: have a twisted motive to murder them all. And they
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: had met him only hours before. Hi there, I'm Kevin
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: and welcome to Just Thought Lounge. Today's case is about
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: the dangerous decisions made by someone desperate to keep their
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: secrets hidden. It's a disturbing story of young life taken,
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: the result of one crazy night. Let's take a look.
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: On Friday, May 25th, 2019, a group of friends in
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: East Detroit were partying at a friend's house. It had
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: been a night filled with noise and drama, drinks, dancing, hookups,
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: and arguments. In the early morning hours, just five of
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: the partiers were left in the house. Blair Keyes, Paris Cameron,
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: Alante Davis, Armand Matthews, and Timothy Blancher. They were relaxed
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: and winding down amongst the mess of the construction taking
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: place in the house and the remnants from a night
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: of partying. The mood was laid back and they were
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: joking about the events of the night when they heard
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: what they assumed must be fireworks going off by the
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: front door. Through the door came a man wearing a mask,
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: gun in hand, firing at the group indiscriminately. The attack
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: lasted only moments. Blair Keyes emerged from where he had
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: fled into the bathroom to find his friends, Paris Cameron
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: and Elante Davis, wounded in the living room.
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: What's the address, ma'am?
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: What's the street name?
• 2:37
  Speaker 4: What's going on at the location, ma'am?
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: That's okay.
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: From the basement, Armand Matthews himself shot in the chest.
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: Did what he could to help another seriously wounded friend,
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: Timothy Blanchard. From the other level of the house, he
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: too placed a call to 911.
• 3:26
  Speaker 5: Okay.
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: Blair later recalled hearing over 20 shots while hiding in
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: the bathroom. For those in his sight, the gunman had
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: been unforgiving. Allante had been shot twice. Both Timothy and
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: Paris had been struck four times. When emergency responders arrived
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: on scene, they found Alante in the dining room already deceased. Similarly,
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: despite Armand's best efforts, it was too late to save Timothy.
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: Paris was rushed to the hospital for treatment. As an
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: organ donor, she was kept alive for a time, though ultimately,
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: she too passed away from her injuries. 20-year-old Paris Cameron
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: came out as gay when he was just 13 years old.
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: One year before the shooting, Paris began to identify as
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: a transgender woman. Her good friends at the party that
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: night were likewise out and proud. 20-year-old Timothy Blancher, or
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: Miami as his friends knew him, is remembered as a
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: fun-loving and kind young man. He was close with his family,
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: particularly his older brother, Devil. 21-year-old Alante Davis was known
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: as just Tay to his friends. His sister recalled, he
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: was silly, he was full of life, he was helpful.
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: Armand Matthews recovered from the gunshot that he had sustained
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: to his chest. It had been a serious wound that
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: had nonetheless first escaped his notice while he desperately tried
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: to render aid to Timothy. Blair Keyes was also fortunate
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: to escape the house that night alive. There were two
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: additional partygoers that had spent most of the night at
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: the house, though they left before the shooter arrived. The homeowner,
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: 29-year-old Lance Atterbury, and Brendan Suttle, who had only recently
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: met and began dating Armand. When the shooting took place,
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: these two were across the city at Brendan's home, where
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: they spoke with his mother and packed a bag with
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: some belongings. From there, they drove back to the house
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: on Devonshire Road. When they arrived at the house, they
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: were met with caution tape, ambulances, police cruisers, and horrific news.
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: Neither Blair nor Armand was able to formally identify the
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: shooter at the scene. A ski mask had covered all
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: but his eyes. Blair reported his complexion was light and
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: his eyes were brown. The man in the mask had
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: been visible for only a moment before he began firing. Yet,
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: the surviving partygoers had their suspicions. Earlier in the night,
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: the group had made a quick trip to the BP
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: gas station on the corner of Devonshire and Mack. While
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: they were there, Paris made a new friend. At 2.40 a.m.,
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: Paris and Alante entered the shop. Paris was dressed in
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: all black with a Nike cap. Alante wore a camo-style
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: top and a hat as well. Lining up for the
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: cashier behind and to the left was a young man
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: who caught Paris' eye. He had entered the store only
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: a minute before, grabbed a juice from the cooler, and
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: stood in line. After a moment or two of contemplation,
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: Paris clearly made up her mind, and she broke free
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: from Alante to speak with the young man at the doorway.
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: Their interaction was off-camera. Moments later, the larger group entered.
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: Blair led the way around the corner to the coolers,
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: followed by Elante. Timothy wore a pink tank top and
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: was followed by Paris. What is curious is that the
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: mystery man in the camouflage jacket and shorts first paid
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: for his drink and headed towards the door. There, he
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: paused to briefly chat with Paris. Then, he began to
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: leave the station. Cameras outside showed that as he left,
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: Paris called out to him. There was no audio, but
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: it seems that this prompted him to return to the store.
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: The group was captured inside the shop again. It was
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: unclear exactly what was said. Blair recalled only that Paris
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: was being overtly flirtatious. As the group exited, they got
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: into Blair's car, which had been parked around the side
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: of the shop, just out of view of the external camera.
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: Pulling out towards the road, Paris leaned out the window
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: and called after the young man once more. She gave
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: him the address of Lance's house on Devonshire Road. They
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: were having a party. He should come by, she said.
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: The young man that Paris invited to the house party
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: was 18-year-old Devin Robinson. He had attended one of the
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: same grade schools as Armand years before, and he lived locally.
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: only two blocks over, in fact, on Buckingham. 20 to
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: 30 minutes after their encounter at the gas station, Devin
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: arrived at the house. He had accepted Paris's invitation to
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: the party. Heavy levels of intoxication go some way to
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: explaining what happened next. When Devin first arrived, he said little,
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: but in a very short span of time, he found
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: himself upstairs in the master bedroom with Paris. and then
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: with others. The intimate activities taking place in that bedroom
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: were not a secret in the house. On the contrary,
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: as events transpired, there were jokes made openly and loudly.
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: They called Devin a trade, a man who presented as
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: straight but nonetheless liked other men. That Devin was on
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: the down low might have sparked more concern, but in
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: the haze of a house party at 3am, that danger
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: just didn't register. The survivors of the house party detailed
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: to investigators what had transpired with Devin in the house
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: and the partners he had been intimate with over that
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: short period of time. The investigation then sought to piece
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: together the 18-year-old's movements after first encountering the group at
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: the gas station through to the time of the shooting.
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: They did so by linking camera footage from across the neighborhood.
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: After receiving his invite to the house party, they tracked
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: Devin walking back towards his house on Buckingham. What they
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: found was that on his way, he routinely paused, backtracked
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: as though he wanted to return to the group. Then
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: he would turn around and carry on. Eventually, he made
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: his way over to Devonshire. He was at the house
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: on Devonshire for approximately an hour, most of that time
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: spent in the master bedroom. The same external BP station
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: cameras caught his trip home after his activities at the
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: house party. He stopped at the shop once more. But
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: this time, cameras captured him pacing in front of the door,
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: spitting onto the ground, leaning over, and gagging. Devin then
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: entered the store and purchased another drink. By 4.02 a.m.,
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: he had returned home. The shooting took place less than
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: an hour later. After determining Devin Robinson's address, officers arrived
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: at his home on Buckingham to find that he and
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: his mother, Mallory, had inexplicably moved out of the house
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: the day after the murders. A roommate who remained there
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: said only that they left in a hurry. Police released
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: images of Devin to the media and asked for the
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: public's help in locating him. It took over a week,
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: but an anonymous tip was received that led Detroit PD
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: to a house on the other side of the city.
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: They arrested Devin Robinson with the intent to charge him
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: for three counts of intentional homicide. When the 18-year-old sat
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: down with detectives, they began by laying all of their
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: cards on the table. They knew he was the shooter,
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: they said. They knew what had transpired earlier in the
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: night that had caused him to snap.
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: I don't want you to say anything right now, but
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: we know that you're responsible for the shooting.
• 12:23
  Speaker 3: They had to.
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: secure enough to arrest.
• 12:26
  Speaker 4: You for the power of sin. Now, we know some
• 12:30
  Speaker 4: other things that happened prior to that. We know some
• 12:33
  Speaker 4: things that they did to you that was not cool
• 12:37
  Speaker 4: prior to that. We know that you were intoxicated prior
• 12:41
  Speaker 4: to that, and it took you.
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: Back to the house of the Lord from the staff.
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: We know exactly what you did, but we want to
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: know why you did what you did. What was your
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: emotional state during that time?
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: Detectives told Devin that if he opened up, they could
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: be his advocate to the prosecutor's office. They lied further
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: when they told him that his DNA was found all
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: over the scene. At that time, Devin conceded that he
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: had spent time with Paris in the master bedroom. but
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: he refused to admit being with any of the other men. However,
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: the only DNA of his that investigators had managed to
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: retrieve was on Timothy, not Paris. Devin admitted to detectives
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: that he was a closeted gay man. He was on
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: the down-low. He did not admit to murder.
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: That's the thing. Don't nobody know that. Nobody know what.
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: Someone on the down-low shit For you?
• 13:52
  Speaker 6: Yes.
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: Okay. Nobody knows me, not even my mom.
• 13:55
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: Not my pops.
• 13:56
  Speaker 3: Nobody.
• 13:58
  Speaker 7: Okay.
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: So, nobody knows you die alone.
• 14:00
  Speaker 8: So, with that being said, that's the point of what
• 14:04
  Speaker 8: we're talking about. Now, were you threatened to be exposed?
• 14:10
  Speaker 4: I ain't mad about it.
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: It's the thing that everybody's finding out. You don't want
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: people to find out? You don't want them to find out?
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: That you don't want to find out? Why not? What?
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: You want to tell them what? That you've done wrong?
• 14:27
  Speaker 9: You want to tell them before this come out?
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: Before my son told me?
• 14:45
  Speaker 8: Devin was confronted with the video evidence and pressured further.
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: The same doorbell camera that had captured him returning home
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: at a few minutes after 4 a.m. also captured a
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: dark figure leaving his house just under an hour later
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: at 4.53. A camera across from the house on Devonshire
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: Road captured the front steps of the property. Unfortunately, this
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: camera was motion activated and sensitive to light. It did
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: not capture the shooter entering. It did, however, capture the
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: shooter in dark and blurry footage running from the house
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: following the attack. That was approximately four minutes after someone
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: had left Devin Robinson's home two blocks over. Then, someone
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: was captured returning to the house on Buckingham at 5.01am,
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: only a few minutes after the shooting. The distance between
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: the houses was only a quarter of a mile. It
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: could be walked in four to five minutes. Someone running
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: was likely to cover the distance in only three. This
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: meant that the footage of both houses aligned with the
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: same dark figure making the trip, committing the murders, and
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: returning nearly down to the second.
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: Can you go home when you get home? You can
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: take a shower and go to sleep. Take a shower
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: and go to sleep? You were at home that whole time, right?
• 16:26
  Speaker 10: Yes.
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: What time? 11 o'clock. Yeah, yeah. Next one.
• 16:31
  Speaker 8: Because we had videos of you going in the house
• 16:35
  Speaker 8: and coming right back out shortly.
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: Afterwards and going back to that house. Okay, we had
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: videos of that. Because you just told me you left
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: by 11 o'clock. That's not true.
• 16:44
  Speaker 9: Why?
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: We had actual videos. So either you forgot or you
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: wanted to. Which one is it?
• 16:50
  Speaker 8: When you did, because we had your video.
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: Coming out, going back to the house. So, I did.
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: We had cameras everywhere. Right. Stripes, traction. Boom, boom, boom.
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: I need to hear you.
• 17:21
  Speaker 3: No, right.
• 17:22
  Speaker 8: I'm just saying. Memory loss or whatever the case may be.
• 17:26
  Speaker 8: I'm telling you what we have.
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: We have. We track it. I just track it on
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: the door. If we can do that, we get that
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: as well.
• 17:36
  Speaker 3: Boom, boom, boom.
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: In the house. Running. That's a fact.
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: Devin Robinson pleaded not guilty and awaited his day in court.
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: His family stood by him. Throughout multiple phone calls recorded
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: from the county jail, Devin analyzed the case against him.
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: He speculated that the state did not have the amount
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: of evidence that they claimed. Notably on these calls, he
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: never pleaded his innocence. He did not restate his alibi
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: that he was at home with his mother when the
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: shooting occurred. He never speculated as to who the figure
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: could have been leaving his house right before the murders
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: and returning immediately after. His mother, Mallory, who was in
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: a romantic relationship with another woman, nonetheless expressed frustration over
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: media reports that her son was secretly gay.
• 18:44
  Speaker 3: That's you pissing me off. And don't let me, don't
• 18:48
  Speaker 3: let me be out there. Don't piss me all the
• 18:50
  Speaker 3: way off.
• 18:52
  Speaker 7: Man, they trying to make it seem like it's.
• 18:54
  Speaker 5: A hate crime. Girl walked up to me saying she
• 18:57
  Speaker 5: been knowing you forever.
• 18:59
  Speaker 3: You said girl walked up to you and said she
• 19:02
  Speaker 3: knew me forever?
• 19:04
  Speaker 7: Yeah.
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: And she know how I am.
• 19:08
  Speaker 3: People who know me know how I am.
• 19:10
  Speaker 5: She was like, I would have never thought the devil
• 19:12
  Speaker 5: would have done something like that. If we had the
• 19:15
  Speaker 5: death penalty, they would be trying to give you the
• 19:18
  Speaker 5: death penalty, but they can't. The only thing they can
• 19:20
  Speaker 5: do is give you a natural life if you're misdressed.
• 19:22
  Speaker 3: Damn.
• 19:23
  Speaker 5: Well, they basically wanted to take that place, because you
• 19:27
  Speaker 5: did it because you hate gay people and all that shit.
• 19:29
  Speaker 5: But see, that shit ain't going to fly. You got
• 19:31
  Speaker 5: sisters and a mom with that lesbian.
• 19:33
  Speaker 3: You feel me?
• 19:34
  Speaker 7: Exactly.
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: There was also discussion of Devin's case in comparison to
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: his brother's, who pled out on his charges due to
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: a co-defendant that was threatening to testify against him.
• 19:48
  Speaker 3: If there ain't no evidence to charge me by my
• 19:51
  Speaker 3: court date, they got to let me go. Not necessarily, Devin.
• 19:55
  Speaker 5: They just can't do what they want to do. They
• 19:58
  Speaker 5: have nothing against him. He pled to that shit, but
• 20:00
  Speaker 5: you ain't got to worry.
• 20:01
  Speaker 3: About no co-defendant.
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: You see what I mean?
• 20:02
  Speaker 3: That's what he was worried about. His co-defendant. Right. And
• 20:06
  Speaker 3: I told the police I was gay. Okay. Yeah. So
• 20:18
  Speaker 3: that should be out the window, that hate crime shit.
• 20:23
  Speaker 5: Well, my thing is, if you ever felt like that
• 20:29
  Speaker 5: way or something, don't be afraid to come to me
• 20:31
  Speaker 5: with that shit.
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: Don't keep that kind of shit from me.
• 20:34
  Speaker 10: I'm not.
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: The trial took place in March 2020.
• 20:42
  Speaker 6: Full of emotion, right? We've got TV cameras. We've got
• 20:47
  Speaker 6: three victims.
• 20:49
  Speaker 7: We've got.
• 20:51
  Speaker 9: Sex involved.
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: This thing is, I'm sure.
• 20:57
  Speaker 9: Not part of your everyday life.
• 21:00
  Speaker 11: Alright?
• 21:01
  Speaker 6: So, right now, it's time to put both feet on
• 21:05
  Speaker 6: the ground. Take a deep breath.
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: We're here.
• 21:09
  Speaker 9: We're real.
• 21:10
  Speaker 7: We're relaxed.
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: We're going to make They'll prove it.
• 21:13
  Speaker 9: The defendant is something that's.
• 21:15
  Speaker 12: Known as a trait.
• 21:17
  Speaker 13: A trait is someone who holds themselves out as heterosexual,
• 21:20
  Speaker 13: but has interest in people of the same sex, but
• 21:22
  Speaker 13: they're on the down low. So they're referring to him
• 21:25
  Speaker 13: as a trait, and then they're laughing, giggling, saying, oh,
• 21:27
  Speaker 13: he is gay, he is gay. Eventually, the defendant leaves,
• 21:31
  Speaker 13: and Paris is seeing him off out the front door.
• 21:33
  Speaker 13: Paris is happy, but it seems like he's watching their interaction.
• 21:36
  Speaker 13: And the defendant is standing there just completely blank. And
• 21:39
  Speaker 13: Blair is watching this happen. He's Never thought it was
• 21:42
  Speaker 13: a good idea to bring a stranger home from the
• 21:44
  Speaker 13: gas station in the first place.
• 21:45
  Speaker 9: And you complain about it to the homeowner.
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: Blair Keyes told the jury about the house party. In particular,
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: how Devin was behaving. Quiet, emotionless, and cold. Blair had
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: concerns that night about inviting him back to the house
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: in the first place.
• 22:05
  Speaker 14: That, because I really... At that time, like, I was
• 22:07
  Speaker 14: the type of person that's like, that ain't got nothing
• 22:09
  Speaker 14: to do with me. If y'all want to bring a
• 22:10
  Speaker 14: random boy from a gas station, that's on y'all. But
• 22:12
  Speaker 14: I did tell him, like, you know, I didn't like
• 22:14
  Speaker 14: the fact that they did that because it's a random
• 22:16
  Speaker 14: boy from a gas station, you know.
• 22:18
  Speaker 9: Why does this concern you?
• 22:19
  Speaker 7: It concerned me because it's a random guy from a
• 22:23
  Speaker 7: gas station. Yeah, he was just chilling.
• 22:26
  Speaker 9: Does he say anything to these individuals?
• 22:29
  Speaker 7: No, the whole time he's not saying anything. He's just
• 22:33
  Speaker 7: sitting there chilling the whole entire time. Not an emotion
• 22:37
  Speaker 7: in his face.
• 22:39
  Speaker 9: What is the interaction between Paris and the defendant before
• 22:42
  Speaker 9: he leaves?
• 22:45
  Speaker 7: They just exchanged numbers. And then after that hug, Devon
• 22:49
  Speaker 7: walks the way that he came.
• 22:50
  Speaker 11: How does the defendant look while Paris is talking to him?
• 22:53
  Speaker 7: He has just a very bland look. He said, oh yeah,
• 22:56
  Speaker 7: I'll see you again. That's what he said when he left.
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: Blair then recounted the moment that the gunman burst in
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: through the front door and began firing.
• 23:07
  Speaker 7: Me, Paris, Elante, Timothy, and I'm out.
• 23:13
  Speaker 9: And while you're sitting around laughing about this.
• 23:15
  Speaker 2: Situation, what happened?
• 23:17
  Speaker 7: We hear footsteps.
• 23:18
  Speaker 14: We think it's Lance. We hear like, mind you, it's
• 23:21
  Speaker 14: like kind of close to July. So we hear like
• 23:24
  Speaker 14: little firecracker noises. It wasn't a big gun, but it
• 23:26
  Speaker 14: was like pow, pow, pow. So we thinking it's Lance
• 23:28
  Speaker 14: playing a joke. But then we see a guy with
• 23:30
  Speaker 14: a ski mask come out. All I hear is Paris
• 23:33
  Speaker 14: scream and gunshot.
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: What do you do?
• 23:37
  Speaker 7: I just sat there and waited for him to walk
• 23:39
  Speaker 7: out the house. I was scared.
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: The defense's case relied on the inability of the two eyewitnesses,
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: Blair and Arman, to formally identify Devin as the shooter.
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: Though in the time that had passed since the murders,
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: Blair had amended his statements. At trial, he told the
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: jury that he did in fact get a clear enough
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: look at the shooter to make an identification. He testified
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: that Devin Robinson was the killer.
• 24:08
  Speaker 9: Are you able to identify the person who was the
• 24:10
  Speaker 9: shooter that night?
• 24:12
  Speaker 2: Yes. Why?
• 24:13
  Speaker 9: And what did that look like to you?
• 24:16
  Speaker 5: The person sitting in the.
• 24:20
  Speaker 9: Courtroom today, the defendant, Mr.
• 24:22
  Speaker 3: Robinson?
• 24:22
  Speaker 15: Yes.
• 24:24
  Speaker 9: You didn't see the face of the shooter, did you?
• 24:28
  Speaker 7: No, but I got a good.
• 24:29
  Speaker 9: I'm asking, did you see the face of the shooter,
• 24:31
  Speaker 9: yes or no?
• 24:33
  Speaker 15: No.
• 24:34
  Speaker 9: You really didn't look at who was shooting, correct? I
• 24:37
  Speaker 9: didn't look.
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: Armand Matthews recounted how he grabbed Timothy and ran down
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: the stairs to the basement when the attacker began firing.
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: He did not see the shooter as the two attempted
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: to flee to safety down the stairs.
• 24:59
  Speaker 9: I was in a dialogue area. I really could not
• 25:03
  Speaker 9: see the front door.
• 25:04
  Speaker 3: Blair seen everything.
• 25:05
  Speaker 8: When I seen gunshots, I mean.
• 25:09
  Speaker 7: You know, first we were all, you know, we were like,
• 25:11
  Speaker 7: what are they, fireworks?
• 25:12
  Speaker 9: But, you know, we grabbed, I grabbed Timothy and I
• 25:16
  Speaker 9: pushed down to the basement and I had him look
• 25:17
  Speaker 9: at me. And we were running down the.
• 25:18
  Speaker 10: Basement, you know, he was saying something to me and
• 25:21
  Speaker 10: we didn't stop talking. He grabbed my hand and put
• 25:22
  Speaker 10: my hand where the bullet shot was, in his chest.
• 25:25
  Speaker 5: And he gave you, for the record, your hands on
• 25:27
  Speaker 5: your chest?
• 25:28
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 25:29
  Speaker 7: And, um, I held pressure.
• 25:31
  Speaker 10: You know, I ran back upstairs because I heard people
• 25:35
  Speaker 10: there screaming. I ran back upstairs to make sure everything
• 25:37
  Speaker 10: was alright.
• 25:37
  Speaker 9: I said, Teddy and Pierce could open a corner. I
• 25:42
  Speaker 9: called 911. I stayed on the phone with 911.
• 25:45
  Speaker 7: I went back downstairs. I held a pressure on Miami.
• 25:48
  Speaker 3: He was still breathing. He was looking at me.
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: I held a pressure on him.
• 25:53
  Speaker 10: And I stayed on the phone until the cops got there.
• 25:54
  Speaker 10: When the cops got there, she put a gun to
• 25:56
  Speaker 10: my face and made me take pressure off of Timothy.
• 25:58
  Speaker 9: And I believe that is when he really lost his life.
• 26:03
  Speaker 9: Your question, Marie, is that he came to death?
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: Devin Robinson's defense was weak. The cameras tracked the movements
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: of the shooter, which had aligned with someone coming and
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: going from his house. There was never an alternative theory
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: presented to account for these movements, either an explanation of
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: where Devin had been during that window of time, if
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: not the murder scene, or even a suggestion that the
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: figure in the camera was simply someone else. Devin did
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: not take the stand.
• 26:42
  Speaker 11: He didn't want anyone to know about his sexuality. He
• 26:45
  Speaker 11: went home that night, and he knew that they were
• 26:48
  Speaker 11: all going to be talking.
• 26:49
  Speaker 9: It was all going to be all over the neighborhood.
• 26:51
  Speaker 11: You heard even Armand tell you that he moved out
• 26:52
  Speaker 11: of that neighborhood because he didn't feel like he could
• 26:54
  Speaker 11: be a gay man in that neighborhood.
• 26:56
  Speaker 12: I know you're going to hear about how.
• 26:58
  Speaker 11: The mom has a girlfriend and how the sister has
• 27:00
  Speaker 11: a girlfriend too. The reality is, for this family, it
• 27:03
  Speaker 11: is different from that. And you hear that from the
• 27:05
  Speaker 11: defendants now.
• 27:06
  Speaker 9: It's the thing.
• 27:07
  Speaker 11: Everybody was going to know. Everybody was going to find out.
• 27:11
  Speaker 11: My mom was going to find out. My dad was
• 27:13
  Speaker 11: going to disown me. And so he makes an even
• 27:16
  Speaker 11: stupider decision to get dressed in black clothing, head down
• 27:20
  Speaker 11: towards Brunswick, over to.
• 27:22
  Speaker 9: Devonshire, kill all these people.
• 27:25
  Speaker 12: Come running back out towards Buckingham, back in the house.
• 27:28
  Speaker 9: Again, you would have to believe, after all of.
• 27:30
  Speaker 11: This, that some random person went for an eight-minute walk
• 27:34
  Speaker 11: at the exact time of the shooting. That's not what happened.
• 27:37
  Speaker 3: This is the defendant. The defendant did this.
• 27:44
  Speaker 15: He didn't threaten anybody. He didn't swear at anybody. He
• 27:51
  Speaker 15: didn't say anything. Oh, I'm ashamed of what I did.
• 28:02
  Speaker 15: He was a willing participant. He has got absolute no
• 28:08
  Speaker 15: reason in the world to go and shoot three individuals.
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: The jury returned with their verdicts across all counts.
• 28:23
  Speaker 12: Devin Robinson as to count one homicide, murder, first degree, premeditated.
• 28:29
  Speaker 9: Alonte Davis. We find the defendant guilty.
• 28:35
  Speaker 12: How do you find your defendant as to count two homicide,
• 28:37
  Speaker 12: first degree, premeditated, Timothy Blanchard?
• 28:41
  Speaker 2: Guilty.
• 28:43
  Speaker 12: Next to count three homicide, first degree, premeditated, Paris Cameron.
• 28:49
  Speaker 2: Guilty.
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: Devin Robinson was sentenced to three life terms without the
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: possibility of parole for first-degree murder, 10 to 20 years
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: for two counts of assault with intent to murder, and
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: two years consecutively for felonies with a firearm, 10 counts
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: in total. Devin appealed his conviction on the grounds that
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: there had been insufficient evidence to identify him as the shooter.
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: That appeal was not successful. In April 2025, the Michigan
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: Supreme Court ruled that mandatory life sentences for individuals under
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: the age of 21 are a harsh and disproportionate punishment.
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: Young convicts such as Devon were able to retroactively seek resentencing.
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: At the time of publication, Devin's record shows that he
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: is serving his time at the Chippewa Correctional Facility in Michigan.
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: His earliest release date is listed as June 2, 2056.
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: Family and friends of Paris Cameron, Alante Davis, and Timothy
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: Blanchard continue to honor and celebrate their memory. The friends
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: are remembered for their silly and fun-loving personalities, young lives
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: cut short over late-night transgressions, and the toxic shame of
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: a violent stranger. And that was the tragic case of
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: Paris Cameron, Timothy Blanchard, Alante Davis, and the House Party Massacre.
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: Thank you for joining me, and a special thanks this
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: week to Budokan Mom for joining our Members Lounge. I'm Kevin,
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: this is Just Thought Lounge, and I'll see you in
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: the next one.
• 30:38
  Speaker 3: We'll see you next time.