One of 5 alleged gunmen pleads in fatal Columbus shootout at apartment complex
One of the five suspects accused of killing a Columbus man in a 2018 gunfight while trying to take drugs and money from a Sands Apartments home has pleaded guilty.
Dontrell Tells initially was charged with murder in the Dec. 9, 2018, fatal shooting of Derrick Maurice Scott, 34, in Apt. 8 of the 1213 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. complex, where police were called at 10:44 p.m.
Tells pleaded guilty Thursday to aggravated assault, attempting to commit armed robbery, using a gun to commit a crime, and being a convicted felon with a firearm. His other charges were dismissed.
In a plea deal negotiated by prosecutor Veronica Hansis and defense attorney Robert Wadkins Jr., Judge Ben Land sentenced Tells to 25 years with 12 to serve and the rest on probation. Tells is 23 years old now.
More on the deadly crime
Police said Tells and four others went to the apartment to rob the occupants of money and drugs. Scott was there with another man, Hansis said.
At 10:37 p.m., Terrell Markel Lee, hiding a gun behind his back, knocked on the door and aimed the weapon when the man there with Scott opened the door, Hansis said. When the door was slammed shut, Lee motioned to cohorts Tells and Domingo Anton Pride, who approached with guns drawn, before shots came from inside, the prosecutor said.
As those three fled from the front door, two more gunmen, Christian Caulton and Jaheem Diquon Rozier, tried to force open the apartment’s back door, and then started firing through it, with Rozier using a rifle, Hansis said.
A shot from the rifle hit Scott in the back, she said. He died later at the hospital.
In the apartment, police found money, drugs and two guns belonging to Scott and his friend, detectives said.
Officers checking the apartment’s surveillance video found high-quality photos they later disseminated to local media, asking the public to help identify the gunmen.
The dramatic images of them standing outside with guns drawn led to a series of arrests, with the last suspects captured in March 2019.
Charges still are pending in other cases.