This story has been updated to include additional information.
A settlement has been reached in a lawsuit filed by the family of a teen who was playing “Nerf wars” when he was shot and wounded in 2023 by a man connected to former Cincinnati Bengals player Joe Mixon.
The settlement, for an undisclosed amount, is not public. The family’s Portsmouth-based attorney, Jared Brankamp, declined to comment.
The lawsuit, filed in 2023 in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court, named Mixon − who at the time was the teen’s neighbor − as a defendant.
On March 6, 2023, Mixon was in the backyard of his Anderson Township home, standing near his sister’s then-boyfriend, Lamonte Brewer, when court documents say Brewer fired approximately 11 shots in the direction of the teen.
The 16-year-old boy was struck in the foot. According to documents filed in the lawsuit, the teen “was running for his life, in his own yard, away from the gunfire,” and heard bullets “hissing by his head.”
A bullet also struck the “toy Nerf rifle he was carrying,” the documents say.
Both Mixon and Brewer had guns. Brewer fired a Zastava pistol that uses the same type of ammunition as an AK-47. Mixon, who admitted having a loaded AR-15-style pistol, did not fire any shots.
Mixon, who now plays for the Houston Texans, has denied having a direct relationship with Brewer.
Teens say Mixon knew about Nerf wars game
In March of this year, multiple depositions were filed under seal in the case. One of the depositions was for a teenage girl who was playing Nerf wars that evening. Court documents note that another teen was videorecording the game when the real gunshots were fired.
The girl who gave the deposition said in an affidavit that she spoke to Mixon about 20 minutes before the shooting. The girl said Mixon was standing in his backyard, on his side of the fence, when he asked what they were doing. The girl said she told Mixon they were playing Nerf wars. She also said another teen told him that they were playing with his 16-year-old neighbor.
But according to Mixon’s agent, Peter Schaffer, multiple surveillance videos don’t corroborate what the girl alleged happened at fence line. He also noted that it was dark and the girl was about 30 feet away. Under cross-examination in the deposition, she could not identify who she spoke to, Schaffer said.
“Joe adamantly denies that the conversation ever happened,” he said.
About 15 minutes later, the girl said she was sitting in her car when she heard the gunshots.
The girl said she recalled previous times when both Brewer and Mixon’s sister, Shalonda, watched her and her friends play Nerf wars.
Both were “very aware of us playing Nerf wars,” the girl said in the affidavit.
Mixon: threats led to fear
Schaffer has previously said the two men felt threatened by the teens because Mixon’s address had been improperly publicized, and he had been receiving death threats on social media and at his home.
It was enough of a concern that a man in Mixon’s home called 911, and Mixon himself called the Bengals’ director of security, according to Schaffer. Shalonda Mixon’s five children were also inside the home and were instructed to hide in the basement.
Brewer pleaded guilty to federal charges of being a felon in possession of a firearm. He was sentenced July 1 to five years in prison.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Settlement reached in Anderson teen’s lawsuit against former Bengal Joe Mixon
Reporting by Kevin Grasha, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
