‘It was real horrific.’ Woman describes helping mother and child shot in Columbus
A Columbus cab driver says she saw the mother and child who were shot Monday and helped them as they drove to a local police station.
The shooting, which was reported to police just before 6:45 p.m. on Susan Lane Monday, left a 24-year-old mother and her 7-year-old son with injuries, the Columbus Police Department said. The mother was in critical condition, while the child suffered minor injuries. Police say they responded to Susan Lane but didn’t find any victims. Shortly after that, the victims showed up at the police department’s east precinct at 4507 Buena Vista Road.
Kywana Davis told the Ledger-Enquirer she had just dropped off a customer and was heading down Buena Vista Road when she saw a car speeding down the median with another vehicle behind it. Davis said she heard a child screaming as the car flew by, which caught her attention.
“I got out of traffic and I started following them,” Davis said. “I don’t know why, but it was just, I guess, my instincts.”
Davis said the car pulled into the east precinct’s parking lot and drove around a nearby bank. Davis saw the following vehicle still behind the car driven by the mother, but it turned away after Davis pulled in front of it, she said.
The woman driving the car went to the police precinct, and Davis followed, asking if she was ok.
“She looked like she was just not really here,” Davis said. “ ... I was on the passenger side, and she was like, ‘He shot me.’”
As Davis got out of her vehicle, an officer was coming out of the precinct, she said.
The officer came to help the victim.
“We both were like, just keep breathing, keep breathing,” Davis said. “Don’t give up on us. Keep going.”
Davis said the woman’s son kept trying to reach for her, so the officer told her to get the child.
Once Davis got the child she noticed something wet, she said.
“I looked down and he was bleeding,” Davis said. “And he was like, ‘my father shot my mom, and he shot me.’”
Police have confirmed that the suspect in the shooting is the husband of the woman who was shot, and the father of the child. Jontay Reynolds, 28, turned himself in Thursday and faces two charges of aggravated assault as well as a charge of drive-by shooting, police said. Police also confirmed Davis was a witness at the police precinct.
“It was real horrific,” Davis said.
Davis said she heard the child’s crying the first night after the incident.
“It’s a lot of emotions,” Davis said. “My mind felt like a TV just switching channels. It was was so much going on, but at the same time, you’ve got to try to calm down and try to help the best way you can, because when you’re panicking and you’re upset you can tend to make mistakes.”
Davis said there was a lot of blood, and “my faith just overwhelmed my fears.”
“I felt like God would protect me and watch over me,” Davis said.
Davis said her car had been out of service for two days prior to the incident.
“I literally just got my car, maybe an hour before this incident happened,” Davis said. “I just feel like everything happens for a reason.”