ELYRIA — An Elyria man could face the death penalty if he’s convicted in connection with a botched robbery Sunday that left two men dead and a third critically injured.

Elyria City Prosecutor Jay Grunda said the nature of the crimes that Brady Phillips is accused of could warrant seeking a death sentence in the case.

Phillips, 38, is charged with murder, aggravated robbery and felonious assault for his role in the home invasion at a David Drive apartment.

Phillips and Herminio Serrano, 38, are accused of forcing their way into an apartment shared by Michael Stump, 30, and David McDonough, 31, around 10 p.m. Sunday.

Elyria police Lt. Andy Eichenlaub said Stump and McDonough’s apartment appears to have been targeted by Phillips and Serrano in an effort to rob them.

McDonough called 911 and told dispatchers that two armed men, who he said he did not know, had broken into the apartment and there was a struggle for their guns.

In the scuffle, Eichenlaub said, Serrano shot Stump in the head and McDonough in the abdomen. McDonough shot Serrano six times, including a fatal wound to his shoulder, Eichenlaub said. Phillips, who wasn’t shot, fled and was arrested about 24 hours later.

Serrano was dead on the floor of the apartment when police arrived, and Stump died Monday after being removed from life support.

Courtney Ross, who is the mother of one of Stump’s four children, said she lived with Stump up until a few weeks before the robbery. They had a disagreement, and she moved out of the apartment even though her name was on the lease, she said.

She said Stump was a good father to her son and was trying to put his life back together after a string of drug and other arrests. But she also said he was addicted to prescription painkillers and had been selling them to make money while he looked for a job.

“He had a drug problem and it was a prescription drug problem, but it didn’t make him a monster,” Ross said. “He was trying so hard.”

Kristia Collins, the mother of another of Stump’s children, didn’t deny Stump had his problems, but she said he had done his time and was trying to improve himself.

“He may not have chosen the right lifestyle, but over the last year he improved his lifestyle,” she said.

Ross said Stump and McDonough were having a small party the night of the robbery, but she wasn’t there.

McDonough’s mother, Kimberly McDonough said her son, who was listed Tuesday in critical condition at MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland, is fighting for his life. Despite decisions that had led her son into drugs, she said he is a good man and good father to his two children.

She said she knew Stump as well and loved him like a son.

“To know David, to know Michael, was to love them, regardless of how they lived their lives,” Kimberly McDonough said.

Police and the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation are still examining two handguns, numerous bullets, prescription drugs that have not yet been positively identified and two safes that were found in the apartment, Eichenlaub said.

A preliminary hearing is set for this afternoon.

Contact Brad Dicken at 329-7147 or bdicken@chroniclet.com.

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