A beating outside a Mansfield bar in late December 2022 set off a chain of events that federal prosecutors say ended with a paid assassin gunning down 26-year-old Devonte Jacocks inside a convenience store, and left a getaway driver’s accomplice dead by suicide weeks later. Cy Michael Ison, a 26-year-old suspected drug dealer, now faces federal charges accusing him of using interstate communications in the commission of a murder for hire, a case that could carry the death penalty or life in prison if he is convicted.
A Beating Outside the Bucket Bar Sparks a Bounty
According to court filings described by Cleveland.com, Ison was beaten outside the Bucket Bar on Lexington Street on December 30, 2022, by six men, including Jacocks. An FBI agent wrote that the killing followed that beating, with the filings made public the week before the story published. Ison later told associates that two people involved in the fight had jumped him by hitting him when he turned around, and on New Year’s Day he began sending messages about retaliating against members of the group.
Court records say Ison offered thousands of dollars to kill the people who had attacked him. He eventually settled on paying $10,000 for Jacocks to be killed, according to the filings, and during a FaceTime call he sent a photo of Jacocks to a man he was recruiting for the job, per the FBI. That man asked for half of the $10,000 up front and half after Jacocks was dead, but Ison said he needed to talk to his brother before agreeing to those terms, and he noted that someone had previously taken $5,000 from him without delivering results. He ultimately changed his mind, telling the man he would pay only after the killing was carried out, and offered $5,000 for a shot to the body or $10,000 for a shot to the head.
Inside the M&S Drive-Thru
The job fell to Nakeial Carter, who later told prison cellmates — according to an FBI agents’ court filing — that he took Ison’s money, hired Jamir Hess to pull the trigger, and kept most of the cash for himself, giving Hess little in return. On the night of March 2, 2023, a masked shooter opened fire inside the M&S Drive-Thru at 753 Springmill Street, according to the Mansfield News Journal, which reported that a male suspect wearing all black and a mask entered the business and shot three people.
Jacocks was shot in the head, chest and right thigh and later died; another 26-year-old man was shot in the calf and a 24-year-old woman was shot in the foot, according to a report from News 5 Cleveland. The Richland County Coroner’s Office identified the victim as Devonte Jacocks of Mansfield, a 2015 graduate of Mansfield Senior High School who was on probation after a heroin-trafficking conviction and was the father of two children, with a third son on the way when he died, the Richland Source reported. As of 3:40 p.m. the day after the shooting, no shooter was in custody, and a week later police said no arrests had been made and no charges had been filed.
The Getaway, the Cash and a Death by Suicide
Federal filings say the shooter fled the store and went to Carter’s home, where Hess arrived sweating. Carter later told police that Hess called someone after the shooting and that Carter helped dispose of evidence, including helping Hess hide his clothes in a neighbor’s trash can and burying the gun used in the killing. Carter texted Ison to tell his girlfriend to give her 15 when she showed up, according to court records cited in the filings…