Security video leads to suspect in fatal shooting outside Columbus Walmart, cops say
Security cameras at a Columbus Walmart recorded the shooting that killed an Alabama teen last week, capturing images of a car that led police to a suspect, a detective testified Monday.
Police Sgt. Thomas Hill said the black 2003 Honda Accord the gunman drove had distinctive markings investigators noticed as they reviewed footage of 18-year-old Caleb Boling getting gunned down at 10:37 p.m. Wednesday outside the store at 3515 Victory Drive.
Boling, who had just gotten off work at the Walmart, was sitting in his 2016 Nissan Altima in the parking lot when the Honda pulled up and a single assailant got out and shot Boling multiple times, leaving him dead on the scene as the shooter got back in the Honda and fled, Hill said.
Witnesses called police at 10:44 p.m., and Boling, of Smiths Station, Alabama, died at 11:19 p.m., the sergeant said.
Tracking a car
Columbus investigators learned from Phenix City police that Boling had been named a suspect in a May robbery there, with the victim listed as Dorian Reviere, Hill said. Detectives tracked Reviere to the Sumbry Hill Apartments on 25th Avenue in Phenix City, where they found a Honda with the same markings as the one on the Walmart video, the officer said.
Police searched the suspect’s apartment and car and arrested Reviere, 18, who in court Monday faced charges of murder and using a firearm to commit a crime.
Hill said Reviere told police he and Boling knew each other from having attended Central High School in Phenix City. He denied being in Columbus the day the shooting occurred, Hill said.
Police confiscated clothing and a gun they found in Reviere’s apartment, but they’ve yet to receive results of any crime lab tests on that evidence, the sergeant said. When cross-examined by public defender Gracie Ham, he declined to specify what markings on the Honda investigators noted.
When Judge Julius Hunter asked Hill about the clarity of the store video, the detective said the two vehicles are “relatively clear,” but the shooter is not recognizable.
Hunter found the evidence sufficient to send the case to Muscogee Superior Court. Reviere is being held without bond.
This story was originally published August 15, 2022 at 12:16 PM.