Jakir Bacote pled guilty to his role in the fatal shooting of Peter McCoy during a parking dispute in Kingston on Sept. 10, 2022. Bacote was sentenced to 6 1/2 to 13 years in state prison by Luzerne County President Judge Michael T. Vough on Tuesday. Ed Lewis | Times Leader
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Tyquan Lassiter was sentenced Nov. 22 to 25 to 50 years in state prison for fatally shooting Peter McCoy during a parking dispute in Kingston on Sept. 10, 2022. Ed Lewis | Times Leader
WILKES-BARRE — Admitting to his role in the fatal shooting of Peter McCoy during a parking dispute, Jakir N. Bacote opted to remain quiet at his sentencing hearing before Luzerne County President Judge Michael T. Vough on Tuesday.
Bacote, 22, of Nanticoke, did smile as he was taken from the Luzerne County Courthouse to begin serving his 6 1/2 to 13 years in state prison.
Bacote pleaded guilty to illegal possession of a firearm and aggravated assault in a plea agreement offered by assistant district attorneys Drew McLaughlin and Julian Truskowski before Vough for the deadly shooting in the parking lot of Leonardo’s Club on Main Street, Kingston, on Sept. 10, 2022.
While Bacote remained silent, his attorney, Frank T. McCabe II, said his client accepted responsibility for the shooting.
“We all believe this was a senseless act,” McCabe said.
Kingston police detectives charged Bacote and his brother, Tyquan Lassiter, 28, with brandishing firearms when McCoy, 38, of Wilkes-Barre, asked the pair to move as McCoy wanted to back up his vehicle from a parking spot, according to court records.
Bacote and Lassiter fired shots into the ground, court records say.
As McCoy got back into the driver’s seat of his vehicle, Lassiter walked closer and fired a shot that struck McCoy in the head, according to court records.
While Bacote did not fire the fatal shot, he did escalate the situation, Truskowski said.
“You shouldn’t of had a gun; this was a senseless tragedy; senseless, stupid behavior,” Vough said when he imposed the sentence.
Vough made Bacote’s sentence for the fatal shooting consecutive to a one-to-two year prison term imposed by Judge David W. Lupas on a drug trafficking offense in April 2023, meaning Bacote’s sentence for the shooting won’t begin until he completes the drug peddling sentence.
Lassiter, of Hackensack, N.J., pled guilty to third-degree murder and illegal possession of a firearm on Nov. 22, and was sentenced by Vough to 25-to-50 years in state prison.