4 charged with assisting McKeesport fugitive accused of shooting patrolman

Four people were charged this week with helping Koby Lee Francis, the 22-year-old McKeesport man wanted in connection with the Dec. 20 shooting of a city police officer.

Daniel M. Neal, 19, Gesiah N. Grigsby, 21, Justine D. Kenyatta, 20, and Jasmyn Henderson-Bracey, 25, are charged with hindering apprehension after investigators said the four were seen on security camera footage helping Francis. Neal is identified in court documents as Francis’s brother.

According to court documents, officers said Francis still had handcuffs on his wrists as the group was around him in a store called Crawford Express in Crawford Village hours after the shooting last Sunday.

A combined $15,000 in reward money has been offered for information leading to the apprehension Francis, who is accused of shooting Officer Geriasimo Athans, 32, outside the McKeesport Police station

According to court documents, Athans and another McKeesport officer took Francis into custody at about 4 p.m. Dec. 20 when Francis was accused of violating a protection from abuse order served little more than an hour earlier.

County police said Francis was searched but somehow kept a firearm. Francis is accused of using the revolver to fire at Athans as the officer attempted to remove him from the back seat of a police vehicle outside the McKeesport station.

Athans, who returned fire as Francis took off, was taken to UPMC Presbyterian hospital with three gunshot wounds to his neck and torso.

Investigators reported in complaints they searched a home on Freemont Street in McKeesport after they learned Francis may have been there. Grigsby and Henderson-Bracey were found at the home.

Investigators returned the Monday and found Grigsby there. Police said in court documents that Grigsby, who is identified as the girlfriend of another one of Francis’s brothers, Darren Francis Jr., told investigators that she had not seen him since before the shooting.

The next day, officers searched another address connected to Francis in Crawford Village and found Henderson-Bracey there. She told detectives she talked with Francis occasionally on Facebook, but had stopped after learning of the shooting.

On Tuesday, after receiving information that Francis was seen in Crawford Village, city police seized security tape from the store and it showed the four people charged inside with Francis.

At one point in the tape, Randy Grossman of the county sheriff’s department reported in court documents, that just over three hours after the shooting Francis momentarily removes a sweatshirt hood partially covering his face, “clearly exposing the handcuffs still on his wrists.”

Police allege in court documents that Francis and Neal exit the store together with Neal looking outside first “and nodding in Francis’s direction informing him there are no police.”

Both men, with Neal driving, enter a vehicle and drive away.

Neal, Grigsby and Henderson-Bracey live in McKeesport, according to court documents. Kenyatta has an East Stroudsburg address listed in court documents.

Grigsby and Henderson-Bracey were arraigned and each released on $10,000 bond posted by a bail bondsman, according to court dockets. Arrest warrants were issued for Neal and Kenyatta.

According to authorities, Francis, who is black, is 6 feet, 2 inches tall with a thin build, black hair and brown eyes.

Police said he was wearing handcuffs when he escaped and was clad in a black hoodie, camouflage pants and black shoes with white soles.

Anyone with information about Francis is asked to call the county police tip line at 833-255-8477.

Anyone who sees the suspect, who is considered armed and dangerous, is advised to call 911.