Man charged in one of two fatal Independence Day shootings

A family friend who dropped gunshot victim Blake Bernard Berry off at Midtown Medical Center on Independence Day now faces involuntary manslaughter and other charges in connection with the death.

Joseph Delaney Kimble, 32, of Columbus was arrested at the Public Safety Center at 2:05 p.m. Tuesday and appeared in Columbus Recorder’s Court on Wednesday. He waived his hearing, where he pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter, reckless conduct, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, tampering with evidence and giving false statements and writings.

Judge Michael Cielinski ordered Kimble held in the Muscogee County Jail on bonds totaling $277,500 and bound the charges over to Superior Court.

Berry, 24, was just a few days shy of his 25th birthday when he was dropped off at the hospital around 4:39 a.m. He died during surgery at 6:24 a.m., said Chief Deputy Muscogee County Coroner Freeman Worley.

Police said they don’t believe that Kimble was the individual who fatally shot Berry, but they said Kimble hosted the illegal, reckless and dangerous house party in the 300 block of Bragg Smith Street where Berry was shot, according to an arrest report.

Lt. John McMichael said Kimble also gave police false statements. Police declined to go into details about that information since the investigation is ongoing.

Officials also said Kimble was in possession of a firearm that he took from Berry during the party. He allegedly withheld that firearm from officials over the course of the investigation.

Authorities have not identified the shooter, McMichael said Wednesday morning.

Initially, police didn’t know where Berry was fatally wounded.

Angelia Sharp, Berry’s mother, welcomes more news about her son’s death but never thought the man she calls “Delaney” would leave her son at the hospital. Information from a car’s tag leaving the hospital early that morning led police to Kimble. Records show that he was taken into custody less than four hours after Berry died and held on a contempt of court charge.

“Delaney and my kids were raised up together,” the mother said. “I would never have thought that Delaney would have did this to my son.”

The mother said a person at the house told her that Berry was still alive when he was placed inside Kimble’s car.

“He just didn’t want to get up and take him to the hospital,” she said. “He said he didn’t want no blood on his furniture and stuff.”

Sharp said Berry was at her home around 11:45 p.m. that Friday, less that five hours before he arrived at the hospital.

“Blake didn‘t have a gun when he left my house,” she said.

Asked if her son usually carried a gun, the mother said no.

“I never knew him to carry a gun,” she said.

Berry was one of two gunshot deaths on July 4. According to officials, 35-year-old Zachery Lenard Clark was fatally shot on Independence Day. Police said he was attacked in the 1000 block of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, where they found him suffering from multiple gunshot wounds to the upper body. Clark was taken by ambulance to Midtown Medical Center and pronounced dead at 2:39 a.m., Worley said.

This story was originally published August 19, 2015 at 11:34 AM with the headline "Man charged in one of two fatal Independence Day shootings ."