‘Do you mean this gun?’ Man shot Columbus teen who asked for his firearm, prosecutor says
Two witnesses watched as Emmanuel “Sway” Truitt shot 17-year-old Deondre Reynolds dead inside a house in Columbus two years ago, a prosecutor told jurors Wednesday as Truitt went to trial for murder.
Reynolds was there with a gun that he asked Truitt to hand to him, said Assistant District Attorney Ray Daniel. Truitt picked the semi-automatic rifle up and asked, “Do you mean this gun?”
Then he pointed it at Reynolds and opened fire, Daniel said.
Police called at 5:07 p.m. Nov. 4 to the house in the 300 block of 25th Avenue at Alford Street found Reynolds dead in the doorway, shot five times in the back, arm and chest. They talked to the witnesses and identified Truitt as the prime suspect, Daniel said.
He was arrested right after the shooting, and is now being tried on charges of murder, aggravated assault, using a gun to commit a crime and being a convicted felon with a firearm.
He is innocent of those charges, said attorney Sirena Saunders, who’s defending Truitt with colleague Bentley Adams IV. Both are with the public defender’s office.
She told jurors during opening statements Wednesday that police did not thoroughly investigate Reynolds’ homicide, and too quickly accepted what the witnesses said.
“Their word has been taken as gospel,” Saunders said, of Truitt adding, “As a result, he’s accused of a crime he didn’t commit.”
She said the investigation was so flawed that authorities may never know precisely how Reynolds was killed.
Truitt faces life in prison if convicted. He has a felony record with multiple prior offenses, prosecutors wrote in a motion asking Judge John Martin to consider him a repeated offender.
According to that document, Truitt’s prior offenses date back to August 2008, when he was 11 years old.
His juvenile charges include:
- Auto theft
- Terroristic threats against school personnel.
- Burglary, two counts.
- Entering an automobile.
As an adult, from 2014 through June 2021, he had these violations on his record:
- Felony obstruction of police. three counts.
- Interference with government property.
- Terrorist threats.
Truitt was 24, when he was arrested in Reynolds’ homicide. He is 26 now.
This story was originally published December 13, 2023 at 12:12 PM.