COVINGTON, Ky. — Shackled at the hands and feet, 18-year-old Ryan Cupp appeared in Kenton County Court Wednesday for his preliminary hearing, visibly emotional as he faced upgraded charges in a deadly shooting that took the life of a 13-year-old boy.
Cupp, a Simon Kenton High School student, had initially been charged with first-degree assault after the April 24 shooting inside a Covington home. Cupp turned himself in two days later. At that time, the victim — shot in the head — was still fighting for his life in the hospital.
On April 30, less than a week after the shooting, the Covington Police Department confirmed the teen had died. Police quickly moved to elevate the charge against Cupp to murder.
WATCH: Detective shares new details on the shooting that killed a 13-year-old in Covington
The shooting happened at around 11:30 p.m. on April 24 in the 100 block of East 11th Street. The original criminal complaint alleged Cupp and the victim were “playing around” with handguns in the kitchen.
A detective with the Covington Police Department shared new details in court Wednesday, testifying that around eight people were inside the home at the time of the shooting, but that only four people, including the victim, were still there when police arrived.
Of the three people who could be interviewed, the detective said one juvenile witnessed the shooting. That girl told police the victim had been asleep in a chair when Cupp allegedly pulled a gun from his pocket, aimed it at his head and fired.
The detective said that police recovered two firearms, including a Sig Sauer P365 with gold accents, after witnesses claimed Cupp threw them to another person and told them to “get rid of them.”
Audio captured on a surveillance camera near the scene allegedly recorded a "male" moments after the gunshot, saying: “Mom, I’m gonna kill myself. I’m sorry. I’m really sorry. Mom, I just killed someone. I’m gonna go kill myself.”
The detective testified that another surveillance camera in the same area captured Cupp running from the scene.
Kenton County Commonwealth’s Attorney Rob Sanders said that Kentucky law recognizes one charge of murder but two potential subsections:
- Intentional murder — when someone knowingly causes another person’s death.
- Wanton murder — when someone’s reckless conduct causes death under circumstances showing extreme indifference to human life.
“Based upon the testimony I heard today, I think the defendant could be guilty under either subsection,” Sanders said. “Witnesses say he pointed the gun at the victim’s head and pulled the trigger. That’s intentional conduct, even if he didn’t think the gun was loaded. And it’s wanton conduct to point a gun — loaded or not — at someone and pull the trigger.”
Similar cases, Sanders noted, have led to murder convictions even when the shooter claimed the killing was unintentional.
Sanders also acknowledged questions over why an 18-year-old and a 13-year-old were together late at night, armed, in a neighborhood and home where neither lived.
“That’s a very good question, and unfortunately, I don’t have a good answer for you at this point,” Sanders said. “I’m sure that’s something that will come out at trial, but I don’t want to speculate.”
The judge raised Cupp’s bond to $1 million at prosecutors' request and ordered that the case be sent to a grand jury.
