Timothy Reynolds' family reveals new images of deadly squeegee attack
BALTIMORE -- The family of Timothy Reynolds is out to prove any wrongdoing moments leading up to his death following an encounter with squeegee workers over the summer.
Reynolds was shot and killed on July 7 at the intersection of Light and Conway streets in downtown Baltimore. A 15-year-old has been charged with first-degree murder.
The family attorney revealed Tuesday morning new images and a timeline in an attempt to support their claim the teen did not shoot Reynolds out of self-defense or fear.
Lawyer Thiru Vignarajah, who is serving as a representative of the Reynolds' family, shared a series of still images from the CCTV surveillance videos, and detailed the chronology of the shooting.
"Cases like this shouldn't be tried in the court of public opinion," Vignarajah said. "They are meant to be tried in the court of law. But over the last few weeks, as the family has patiently waited for the wheels of justice to turn in a righteous direction, they have been given misinformation and misrepresentation by the defense, and until now, silence from the prosecution."
Reynolds' family, and Vignarajah, say the teen squeegee worker did not shoot his weapon in self-defense, but rather grabbed a gun from a bag, returned and followed a disoriented Reynolds, who was struck with a rock, and shot him five times, three times in the back.
"A fiction has been depicted to the public, a fiction that the victim was some crazed, intoxicated, bat-wielding maniac who viciously attacked some children and the children in the heat of the moment, in self-defense, in a lapse of judgement, fired back because they had to," Vignarajah said. "The evidence you see shows that nothing could be further from the truth."
Vignarajah said in a press conference that just before the altercation, the teen retrieved a backpack with the murder weapon.
He said that after the initial interaction, the teen deliberately stepped away to pull a mask down over his face, and then returned, along with two others, to follow Reynolds as he was retreating to his car. Then, while Reynolds was disoriented, the teen shot him five times.
Vignarajah claims the teen's DNA was found on the backpack containing the gun, then the evening after the shooting, the teen confessed he was the one who shot Reynolds.
Police said there was an initial confrontation between the workers and Reynolds, who parked his car and got out armed with the bat. He was advancing toward the group when he was shot, police said.
Vignarajah said the same CCTV surveillance camera was shown to the Baltimore City Grand Jury, in which they ruled for charging the teen with first-degree murder.
"The reality is that the prosecutors and the detectives worked on this case, spoke with countless witnesses, canvassed the neighborhood, obtained video evidence, ran forensic tests, and only after the thorough investigations, they presented to the grand jury in Baltimore City, they sought and obtained charges for murder in the first degree," Vignarajah said.
According to our media partner The Baltimore Banner, prosecutors intend to offer the teen a plea deal with a reduced charge. In this plea deal, he would be offered a manslaughter charge in the juvenile courts.
The teen would face a maximum penalty of being detained until turning 21 years old.
A hearing is scheduled on Nov. 17 to determine if the 15-year-old will be tried as an adult.
The 15-year-old boy faces eight adult, felony charges that could land him in prison for life. The teen rejected a plea deal that would have released him from jail in 60 years if he pleaded guilty.
Vignarajah blamed Baltimore City State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby for her handling of the case and offering this plea deal.
He also questioned her motive, seeing that she lost her election to Ivan Bates and will have a federal trial in March for perjury and mortgage fraud.
"We have an unusual circumstance," Vignarajah said. "The State's Attorney for Baltimore City is under federal indictment. Her trial begins next year. She will, in all likelihood, not be a lawyer, and she will certainly not be the State's Attorney."
"It seems clear over these past few weeks, over these past couple of months, that she has abdicated her responsibility to the community, to the system, to the victims."
Mosby's office said in a statement Monday that it stood firmly beside its decision to recommend that the case be tried in the juvenile court system.
"Juvenile court exists for a reason, and our decision is based on all the facts and circumstances pertaining to the actions of a 14-year old minor," the statement said. "Much of the factors that we considered in arriving at our recommendation cannot be discussed publicly due to the fact that the case is open and the defendant is a juvenile."
Vignarajah claimed prosecutors offered the plea deal without consulting the victims.
And, either way, Reynolds' family, does not accept what the prosecutors are offering.
"They have remained quiet, remained private, believing that the process would work, that the wheels of justice would turn in a righteous way," Vignarajah said. "Their faith in that has been betrayed by a State's Attorney who has not even spoken to them and just relaying an offer to the defense that is just laughable."
In its statement, the Office of the State's Attorney for Baltimore City contended that its approach is consistent with its "track record in dealing with similar cases, such as last week's Inner Harbor juvenile shooting case, where the court ultimately decided to try the defendant in the adult system despite our recommendation."
"That same process will occur in this case and ultimately the judge will make the decision on where it will be adjudicated," the SAO office said in its statement.
