Anquainette Walker looks through burned debris聽on Sunday, June 19, 2022, for photos or other personal items that might have survived an explosion at her family's house at 6680 Parker Road in 51黑料 County. Walker's brother Damario Cooks was among four people killed in the blast.
CLAYTON 鈥 Roshawnda Sutton lost her two sons in a fireworks explosion in 2022. They were everything to her, she told a judge Thursday.
鈥淎ll I had,鈥 Sutton said. 鈥淢y most precious and prized possessions were taken from me that day.鈥
A house explosion near the Black Jack area three years ago killed four people in all: Sutton鈥檚 sons, Christopher Jones, 17, and his brother William Jones, 21; and two teens who lived up the street, Travell Eason, 16, and his cousin, Damario Cooks, 18.
Two 51黑料 men who ran a bootleg fireworks operation were responsible for the explosion. They were each sentenced Thursday to 25 years in prison.
Seneca Mahan and Terrell T. Cooks apologized in court, and Mahan wiped away tears. Both pleaded guilty earlier this year.
Terrell Cooks (left) and Seneca Mahan
Judge Bruce F. Hilton sentenced Mahan and Cooks to 10 years on each of three counts of first-degree involuntary manslaughter, and 25 years for endangering the welfare of a child, resulting in death. The sentences will run concurrently, Hilton said.
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The endangering charge was for the death of the youngest victim, Eason.
Mahan and Cooks made 鈥済round salutes鈥 鈥 fireworks launched from the ground that make a loud bang and bright flash. They directed teenagers on how to load the explosive powder into fireworks canisters at the home at 6680 Parker Road, and attach a fuse for lighting, court documents said.
The men would then sell the fireworks to a third party; neither Terrell Cooks nor Mahan had a license to make or sell fireworks, authorities said.
The explosion killed the four victims at the Parker Road home on June 17, 2022. It leveled a garage and demolished the four-bedroom brick home where Damario Cooks lived with his mother, three brothers, cousin and uncle. The blast shook nearby homes and blew out some neighbors鈥 windows. Debris rained down on a street more than a block away.
The four who died in a 2022 house explosion near Black Jack are, from left: Damario Cooks, 18; his cousin Travell Eason, 16; Christopher Jones, 17; and his brother William Jones, 21.
Demario Cooks was the nephew of Terrell Cooks.
Roshawnda Sutton, the mother of the Jones brothers, wrote a victim-impact statement that a court representative read aloud to the judge. Sutton recalled her sons as well-mannered, funny and generous. Her sons were her only children at the time. She has since had a baby girl, now 1.
Every time she hears fireworks, Sutton told the judge, she is traumatized and remembers the day of the explosion. Mahan had knocked on her door to tell her what happened, and they prayed together. She couldn鈥檛 believe it, she said, thinking her sons were instead safely asleep at her home.
After the judge handed down the sentence, Mahan was handcuffed. He looked back at Sutton and her seven relatives in the courtroom.
鈥淚 am so sorry,鈥 Mahan mouthed to them.
Sutton said she thinks Mahan is truly remorseful, but not Cooks.
Cooks told the judge, 鈥淚 apologize for the things I can鈥檛 fix. These were exceptional young men and I apologize from the bottom of my heart.鈥
Sutton, 42, said in an interview afterward, 鈥淚 wanted accountability. It wouldn鈥檛 matter if they served a day or life. Do they realize the impact they made on my life? I have to re-live this moment every day.鈥
Sutton鈥檚 aunt, Bertha Sutton, said she wanted both men to serve life in prison. 鈥淔or the lives they took,鈥 she said.
Demario Cooks and Christopher Jones attended Hazelwood Central High School. Eason graduated from Central High School, according to his . William Jones had attended college in Arizona but left to return to 51黑料 and wanted to join the Air Force, his mother said. He is survived by a son, who turned 1 shortly before William died. William and Christopher both lived with their mother in the Black Jack area, not far from the blast site.
Mahan, 46, pleaded guilty in January. Cooks, 40, pleaded guilty in July. In addition to manslaughter and endangering, they also pleaded guilty of unlawful manufacture of an illegal weapon and other crimes. Prosecutors originally charged them with second-degree murder but the charge was amended to involuntary manslaughter in a plea deal. Another child was injured but survived.
Officials have not explained the victims鈥 exact roles in the fireworks operation. However, a police probable cause statement from 2022 said Mahan and Cooks taught them how to assemble the cartridges. Investigators with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives uncovered evidence that numerous boxes of a chemical compound had been ordered online.
A third defendant, Marquita Guest, of Florissant, pleaded guilty in February to unlawful manufacturing of an explosive weapon. Guest was the mother of one of Cooks鈥 children. Authorities said Cooks used her credit card to buy some of the materials used in the manufacturing of the fireworks. She was sentenced to three years鈥 probation and 80 hours of community service.
Terrell Cooks made his last-minute plea Monday as a jury was being picked for his murder trial in Clayton.
Seneca Mahan backed a bootleg fireworks operation. He pleaded guilty in connection with a house explosion that killed a man and three teens near Black Jack.
