Victim’s longtime friend pleads guilty to shooting him three times on Winston Road

The 24-year-old limped to the front of the courtroom Monday to hear the man he grew up with plead guilty to shooting him three times Jan. 5, leaving him with irreparable nerve damage in his hip.

The victim did not address the court as DiAngilo Antuan Bell, 23, pleaded guilty to aggravated assault.

But his father did.

The father was outraged at Bell’s betrayal of his son’s friendship: “This man has been to my house,” he said of Bell. “He played with my son.” Bell had shared dinner with his family, the father said, yet Bell still tried to kill his son.

So, whatever sentence Superior Court Judge Maureen Gottfried gave Bell, “I don’t think it’s going to be strong enough,” the father said.

Gottfried sentenced Bell to 10 years in prison with five to serve, and the rest on probation. She also ordered him never again to have any contact with the victim’s family.

Bell’s Atlanta defense attorney Lamar Rhodes sought a more lenient penalty, asking that Bell serve only three years.

Again the father argued Bell deserved more time – of his son saying, “He’s going to suffer the rest of his life.”

Neither Bell nor the victim would disclose any motive for the assault.

Bell, who disputed facts of the case as recited by Senior Assistant District Attorney Don Kelly, told Gottfried he would suffer by being separated from his son while in prison. “No hard feelings to the victim,” he added. “I still love him like a brother.”

That was not evident from the way Bell assaulted his longtime friend earlier this year at 1052 Winston Road in Columbus, an area now infamous for shootings and homicides, authorities said.‘Kelly said the victim’s mother dropped him off at some apartments there, where he was to meet a friend. He was outside when a car pulled up and Bell got out, covering the lower half of his face with a bandana.

Bell pulled out a handgun and opened fire, striking the other man in the neck, wrist and hip, the latter wound causing permanent injury. As Bell fled, the victim went to a nearby apartment for help. The resident there let him in, called the police and put pressure on the his wounds to reduce the bleeding.

As an ambulance rushed the victim to the hospital, the apartment resident reported to officers the man had told him “Lo,” the name by which he knew Bell, had shot him. The victim later picked Bell’s picture from a photographic lineup.

Police got warrants to arrest Bell, who surrendered to officers on Jan. 17.

In delivering Bell’s sentence, Gottfried told Bell he was lucky the victim suffered only “lifelong scars,” as he could have died from his wounds.

“Frankly, it’s a miracle you’re not facing a murder charge,” the judge said.

It would not have been Columbus’ first or only homicide on Winston Road.

On Nov. 8, 2013, 27-year-old Terrell Screws of 8344 Twin Chapel Drive was pronounced dead at 10:49 p.m. from multiple bullet wounds sustained on the street outside 1042 Winston Road, investigators said.

This past Aug. 21, 16-year-old Christopher Jones died from a gunshot wound to the head during an exchange of fire that led to Jones’ crashing his bullet-riddled car at Winston Road and Head Street. Police called to the shooting at 10:10 p.m. found Jones still in the driver’s seat.

Two passengers who’d been in the vehicle with Jones, one 14 and the other 15, were charged with felony murder for their part in the incident. Felony murder means they allegedly caused someone’s death while committing a felony, whether they meant to or not.

Also arrested during the investigation was 44-year-old Antonio Robinson who lived in Winston Road’s 1000 block. He was charged with two counts of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime and keeping a disorderly house.

Winston Road residents told the Ledger-Enquirer multiple shots were fired during the incident. One witness said he heard what sounded like an automatic weapon.

About 11 p.m. this past May 25, a man was wounded in the hand and thigh during a drive-by shooting on Winston Road. “A car drove by, then came back by on a second pass,” police Lt. John McMichael told the Ledger-Enquirer. “Someone was hanging out the window and fired at them.”

The man was treated and released from The Midtown Medical Center.

This story was originally published December 1, 2014 at 3:41 PM.