YOUNGSTOWN — After more than seven hours of deliberations, jurors returned a guilty verdict against Brandon Crump Jr. in the 2020 aggravated murder of Struthers’ 4-year-old Rowan Sweeney.

Crump was found guilty on 16 charges, including felonious assault and the attempted murders of Yarnell Green, Sweeney’s mother Alexis Schneider, Andre McCoy Jr. and McCoy’s girlfriend Cassandra Marsicola; aggravated burglary; aggravated robbery and conspiracy; as well as various firearm specifications.

Rowan’s father, David, called the week-and-a-half trial “depressing” and “heartbreaking.”

He thanked law enforcement and prosecutors involved with the case.

“I’m just so relieved that we got the guilty verdict,” he said after the verdict. “We’ve fought and worked so hard these past over three years to get to this point, and I’m really speechless right now.

“I’m so grateful for the law enforcement, for our prosecution team, for all the hard work they did on this case.”

On Sept. 21, 2020, Crump entered through the front door of 111 Perry St. in Struthers and fired a .45-caliber handgun at the five people in the living room, according to a news release from Mahoning County Prosecutor Gina DeGenova. The four adults suffered gunshot wounds, and Rowan was killed. Crump then grabbed cash from the coffee table and fled, according to the release.

“We’re very pleased with the verdict,” DeGenova said. “It was the right verdict. The evidence demonstrated that Brandon Crump callously and viciously murdered Rowan Sweeney. He caused havoc to a lot of lives, and he’s going to pay the price now.”

Crump’s trial was the final of three individuals involved in the murder.

In August, McCoy pleaded guilty to murder. McCoy testified in Crump’s trial as part of a plea agreement.

In December, Kimone Bryant pleaded guilty to aggravated murder.

Initially, Bryant was thought to be the shooter, but when DNA evidence was analyzed, it suggested that Crump, then 17, was the shooter.

Investigators found text messages suggesting the incident began as a robbery, as McCoy texted Bryant to tell him that another man in the home, Green, had lots of cash.

The shootings were reported in a 911 call at 1:52 a.m.

About 40 minutes later, a video was filmed on Crump’s phone showing cash, “proud of his work, proud of what he did, at the cost of a little boy’s life,” Mike Yacovone, county assistant county prosecutor, said. Yacovone said the denominations of the cash being shown “match up with the money that was taken from Yarnell Green.”

Green was shot to death in September 2022.

A sentencing date for Crump has not yet been set.

“My sincere sympathy goes out to Rowan’s family and to all the community members who supported them. For a family to lose a young child over a measly few thousand dollars shocks the conscious and is truly heartbreaking,” DeGenova said. “I and my team of career prosecutors, and now with our newly formed SVU unit, remain committed to bringing about justice for all victims, and especially innocent young victims who cannot protect themselves, like Rowan.

“Today we again mourn the loss of Rowan but rejoice that his killer will cease to be a menace to this community, and any other hopefully for a very long time.”