Crime

Second brother pleads guilty in slaying of Berea musician

The Madison County coroner's van was parked behind the apartment building at 301 Chestnut in Berea, where one man was fatally shot and another was wounded early Monday morning.
The Madison County coroner's van was parked behind the apartment building at 301 Chestnut in Berea, where one man was fatally shot and another was wounded early Monday morning. Greg Kocher | Staff

A Madison County man pleaded guilty Monday for his role in the 2011 shootings at a Berea apartment that killed one man and injured another.

On the day his trial was to start, Ryan Denholm, 35, pleaded guilty to facilitation to murder, facilitation to attempted murder and facilitation to first-degree burglary.

He faces a sentence of up to 15 years in prison. Madison Circuit Judge William Clouse scheduled sentencing for July 22.

The shooting on Nov. 21, 2011, came several hours after Denholm’s younger brother, Matt, got into a scuffle with two men in the parking lot behind an apartment building.

An apartment resident, Kevin Price, and another man intervened to help the two men. As Matt Denholm left, he made several threatening comments that he would return to the apartment.

He returned with Ryan Denholm and a shotgun. Zackary Dustin Flower, 25, a musician who had served in the National Guard, was shot and killed. Price was shot in the right leg.

Matt Denholm, now 32, is serving life in prison without the possibility of parole for 25 years for his role in the shootings and for the slayingsof Sonsaray “Sonsi” Warford and her boyfriend, Charles DeMarcus “Chew” Walker in 2010.

This story was originally published May 23, 2016 at 3:19 PM with the headline "Second brother pleads guilty in slaying of Berea musician."

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