A 19-year-old Cincinnati man has been sentenced to 25 to 29 years in prison for fatally shooting a transgender woman in the city’s Evanston neighborhood last year while awaiting trial on unrelated robbery charges.
On June 9, Ajani Grimes pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter, aggravated robbery, discharge of a firearm on or near a premises, kidnapping, receiving stolen property, and having a weapon under disability, which prohibits certain high-risk individuals, including those under criminal indictment, from possessing firearms.
Other charges were dismissed as part of the plea agreement, including a murder charge that prosecutors had initially filed in connection with the fatal shooting of 47-year-old Laura Schueler.
At the time of Schueler’s murder, Grimes, then 18, was awaiting trial on charges of aggravated robbery, robbery, and felonious assault stemming from a carjacking-related incident on October 5, 2024. Prosecutors alleged that he stole a driver’s vehicle, phone, and wallet at gunpoint, pistol-whipped the victim, and fired a shot into the air.
Grimes was released on bond pending trial and ordered to wear an electronic ankle monitor. But according to Cincinnati NBC affiliate WLWT, he later cut off the monitor and left his home.
Prosecutors say that, during the early morning hours of June 7, 2025, Grimes met Schueler and she entered his car.
“I don’t know what happened in the car, but it was not something Miss Schueler wanted to continue to participate in,” one prosecutor said. “She fled from the car, and Mr. Grimes got out and shot her in the back of the head. He left her for dead on the side of the road.”
Police responded to reports of gunfire in the 1500 block of Jonathan Avenue around 6:50 a.m. Officers found Schueler’s body at the scene and launched a homicide investigation. Grimes was arrested about a month later.
Ballistics evidence linked bullets fired during the earlier robbery case to Schueler’s killing, helping persuade Grimes to accept a plea agreement.
Common Pleas Judge Robert Goering accepted the plea agreement and sentenced Grimes to 25 to 29 years in prison on all charges, including those stemming from the robbery case that preceded Schueler’s killing.
Arguing for leniency at the sentencing hearing, Grimes’ attorney cited his client’s youth and lack of an adult criminal record.
“Mr. Grimes is 19 years old as he stands here today,” he said. “He was 18 years old at the time of these crimes, a very young man. He has no prior adult criminal record to speak of, and obviously, we’re here because he’s made some terrible decisions and tragic mistakes.”
Schueler’s friends and family remembered her as a kind, compassionate, and generous person who loved fashion and animals and was a passionate advocate for her community.
Her cousin, Geno Griffith, who said their relationship was more like that of siblings, spoke at the sentencing hearing.
“Laura was known by many for her LGBTQIA+ advocacy, but those of us who loved her knew something even greater — she was kind, giving, compassionate, used her voice not only for herself but for others who felt unseen or unheard,” Griffith said. “No sentence can restore the years, conversations, celebrations, and memories that were taken from us, but her legacy will continue through those she’s touched.”
Martez Meadows, a friend of Schueler’s, told WLWT that those who knew her were still grieving her loss. He also criticized Grimes, who declined to respond to the victim impact statements or express remorse when given an opportunity to speak.
“Whatever you do behind closed doors is going to come to the light, so you killing her thinking that was going to stop people from knowing you like men or transexuals — it’s out there; we know what you are,” Meadows said. “The last thing I want to say is I hope you rot in hell.”
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