As Columbus slaying nears trial, authorities wonder why man allegedly killed mom’s neighbor
In July 2018, a Columbus man walked from his mother’s house to a neighbor’s home, called the man to the door and gunned him down.
Four years later, suspect Cyrus Bradford Howard Sr. is set to be tried for murder in the shooting of James Richardson Jr., yet authorities say they still aren’t sure why Howard shot Richardson, whose wife found him dead in the foyer of the family’s Hunter Ridge Circle home about 9:20 p.m. July 30.
During a three-hour pretrial hearing Friday before Superior Court Judge Ron Mullins, Assistant District Attorney Veronica Hansis played video recordings of Howard’s interviews with police, one from Aug. 2, 2018, and another the following Aug. 8.
In those interviews, detectives repeatedly pushed Howard to explain his actions and got no clear answers.
The recordings showed Howard, then 48, initially claiming to know nothing about Richardson’s shooting: “I don’t know anything about anything,” he told Detective Stuart Carter. Later he implied his brother killed Richardson.
Only when Carter brought Howard’s mother into the room did Howard confess to shooting the neighbor, who lived a few doors down in the 6100 block of Hunter Ridge Circle.
Asked why he killed Richardson, Howard said he feared Richardson was a threat to his mother, though he acknowledged Richardson had never made any threats. He said this unspecified fear drove him to go to Richardson’s home to confront him. “I knocked on the door,” he told Carter. “When he came to the door, I shot him.”
Leaving Richardson face down on the floor, Howard walked back to his mother’s, and put his clothes in a bathtub filled with bleach, he told Carter. He gave the .380-caliber handgun to a friend, who allowed police to confiscate it when Howard told them who had it, Carter said.
As Carter further pressed him to explain the shooting, Howard mentioned feeling threatened by the Gangster Disciples and by a group he called the “Black Disciples.” When Carter asked what they wanted from him, Howard said, “To make a certain decision I can’t speak of, sir.”
Though he could not connect Richardson to either of the groups he mentioned, Howard said he feared assailants were going to break into his mother’s house and hurt her. When Carter asked why anyone would hurt his mother, he said, “Sir, I have no idea.” Asked whether he still felt his mother was in danger, he replied: “Yes, I do.”
Referring to Richardson as “J,” Howard told Carter he regretted shooting the neighbor: “J was my friend, and I never would have did that.” He also would not have shot Richardson if the victim’s wife and children had been home, he said.
Defense attorney William Kendrick suggested Howard was delusional, but Hansis argued that police recordings showed no evidence he had a “mental health issue,” as he appeared to understand what was happening. Carter testified the suspect “appeared to be very coherent to me.”
Besides murder, Howard is charged with aggravated assault and using a gun to commit a crime. His trial is set to begin Aug. 8, but Hansis and Kendrick continue to discuss a possible plea deal that would preclude that.
If convicted at trial, Howard faces a maximum penalty of life in prison.