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PA Dad Dies Less Than 1 Year After Prison Release Following ATF 'Operation Gun Grabber'

Less than a year after a central Pennsylvania dad was released from prison, he was shot and later died from his injuries, authorities say. 

Lykeem Ajibree Bethune, in June 2016 (Note that no photos after 2016, including prison photos, have been publicly released).

Lykeem Ajibree Bethune, in June 2016 (Note that no photos after 2016, including prison photos, have been publicly released).

Photo Credit: Facebook/Lykeem Bethune (Keem BallinOut)

Lykeem Ajibree Bethune, 24, of York City, had been released from prison on Nov. 2, 2021, following his guilty plea in the 2017 "Operation Gun Grabber" run by the ATF-York County Drug Task Force operation. 

Bethune was shot on the street in the area of East Jackson and South Court Avenue in York at 3:26 p.m. on Sunday, September 11, according to the York County Coroner's office. 

He was taken to WellSpan York Hospital, where, "despite life-saving measures" he died at 3:05 p.m. on Monday, September 12, as stated in the coroner's release. 

Deputy Coroner Michele Kirchner certified his death, but the cause and manner are pending an autopsy. His death marks the 16 homicides in the city, according to the coroner's office. 

Bethune was 19 when he was arrested for the felony charge of Criminal Attempt - Manufacture, Delivery, or Possession With Intent to Manufacture or Deliver in Jan. 2016, court records show. 

In Feb. 2016, he was found by police following a shooter to a home in the 200 block of West Jackson Street, he was "sitting on a couch" and "with the residents' consent, police searched the couch, where they found a handgun. Inside (his) jacket was a small amount of marijuana," Ted Czech reported for York Daily Record citing court documents.  

Finally, he was arrested along with eight other men on March 29, 2017, for selling and possessing stolen firearms, according to a release by the US Department of Justice in April of that year. He had been found with "a stolen Intratec 9mm pistol with twenty-two 9mm caliber cartridges loaded in the magazine and a stolen Springfield Armory .40 caliber pistol with nine .40 caliber Winchester Full Metal Jacket cartridges loaded in the magazine," according to the unsealed indictment of the men arraigned before Chief United States Magistrate Judge Susan E. Schwab. 

He pleaded guilty to the charges in all of the cases, court records show. 

It is unclear what he had been doing since his release from prison. 

He is survived by his son, extended family, and friends, according to his social media. 

His funeral and memorial service details have yet to be released.

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