Wounded Columbus man identified assailant by street name before he died, police say
A Columbus man named the suspect who fatally shot him April 10 before he died in the hospital the next day, a police detective testified Thursday.
“O.G. just shot me,” David Brown told a neighbor outside United Apartments on Fort Benning Road, as police officers recorded the exchange on their body cameras, Detective Roy Green said during a preliminary hearing for suspect Donnell Russell, who lived in the same complex.
The patrol officers got to the scene almost immediately, because they were checking on a domestic dispute nearby on Sheridan Avenue around 3 a.m. that Sunday when first they heard a loud argument and then a gunshot, and went to investigate, Green said.
They found Brown on the ground, wounded. When a neighbor asked Brown what happened, he named “O.G.” as his assailant, using Russell’s street name, Green said. A witness later picked Russell’s picture from a six-photo lineup, identifying him “with 100% certainty” as the suspect known as “O.G.,” the detective added.
Brown, 43, died at Piedmont Columbus Regional around 5 p.m. on April 11, authorities said.
When police searched Russell’s apartment, they found a gun that matched the caliber used in the shooting beside a state identification card in Russell’s name, Green said.
While cross-examining the detective, the public defender representing Russell elicited testimony that “O.G.” also is common street slang for “original gangster.” Moffett Flournoy then argued that Brown in fact did not identify Russell by name, as he could have been referring to anyone using that appellation.
Flournoy asked that Russell’s murder and gun charges be dismissed, but Judge Julius Hunter refused, finding probable cause to send the case to Muscogee Superior Court.
Besides murder, Russell, 45, is accused of using a gun to commit a crime and being a convicted felon with a firearm. Arrested Tuesday, he was charged also with possessing crack cocaine when officers found he had 1.6 grams of crack worth around $160, Green said.
Hunter set a bond of $1,500 on the cocaine charge. Russell will be held without bond on the other counts, the judge said.
