Suspect in fatal Mason business shooting not competent for trial
By FOX19 Digital Staff and Mike Schell
Published: Oct. 15, 2026 at 8:32 PM GMT+2 | Updated: 3 hours ago
Share
- Add Us On Google
- Add as a preferred source on Google
- Download the FREE FOX19 NOW news app for iPhone
- Download the FREE FOX19 NOW news app for Android
WARREN COUNTY, Ohio (WXIX) — A Hamilton man is heading to a psychiatric hospital after he was found not competent for trial.
David Cohen is charged with murder, aggravated murder, and possessing weapons while under disability for the July 22 death of 29-year-old Vincent “Vinny” Stoetzel at Carter Lumber in Mason.
Cohen will spend at least six months at Summit Behavioral Healthcare, a psychiatric hospital in Cincinnati, Warren County Judge Timothy Tepe ordered on Thursday. The judge said Cohen will then be re-evaluated.
A grand jury indicted David Cohen...
(Warren County Prosecutor's Office)
Warren County Prosecutor David P. Fornshell said Cohen worked at Carter Lumber for about a week before he quit just days before the shooting. While prosecutors have not said why Cohen resigned, Fornshell characterized the departure as being for “innocuous” reasons.
“There wasn’t concern on the part of the employer that anything like this was going to happen,” Fornshell said. “It wasn’t that type of resignation from the position that he held.”
Investigators said the two men had known each other socially outside of work for about three weeks. While a motive is still not clear, prosecutors believe Stoetzel was the intended target.
"I think it’s too early for us to even talk about the allegations or to talk about what may have taken place, because Mr. Cohen’s simply not stable enough to even—I’m not sure that he knows," said Cohen’s attorney Andrew Brenner on Thursday.
If Cohen gets well enough to stand trial, his attorneys say they plan to pursue a not guilty by reason of insanity defense. That is a separate legal question from whether he is competent to stand trial now.