Woman charged with intimidating witness in murder case involving squeegee worker in downtown Baltimore
BALTIMORE -- A Baltimore woman has been charged with intimidating a witness in the murder case of Timothy Reynolds, who was shot and killed last July after confronting a squeegee worker.
Twishae Tyler, 23, is being held on two counts of retaliating against a witness.
Reynolds was killed on July 7 after he got out of his car and reportedly confronted a squeegee worker at the intersection of Light and Conway streets in downtown Baltimore. A 15-year-old squeegee worker then allegedly grabbed a gun and shot Reynolds.
The 15-year-old is facing murder charges and will be tried as an adult.
Charging documents show that the mother of a witness got a call from a female pretending to be from Metro Crime Stoppers, who then said she needed to meet with her to give her the Metro Crime Stoppers reward.
Documents said the witness called the false Metro Crime Stoppers representative back and said the interaction appeared to be odd, and the person on the other end hung up.
Two days later, the witness received a text saying "U didn't get no money & wasn't left anonymous. Didn't learn the first time U got shot?"
Investigators learned the text message came from "TextNow," a company that issues temporary phone numbers.
TextNow told police the phone number was requested by a person with an Apple ID account.
Investigators were able to track the phone number to Tyler, who was located in the living room of a home.
The woman told police she was the only person who had access to the phone.
The suspect's attorney, Warren Brown, said the intimidation allegations reportedly came from someone associated with his client's father.
"It's wrong for one," the suspect's attorney, Warren Brown, said of the intimidation allegations. "Secondly, it impacts the integrity of the system. and thirdly as I've indicated. I got this. I don't need anybody's help on this."
Thiru Vignarajah, the attorney for the Reynolds family, told WJZ that the upside was that people did "the right thing." They "stepped up and acknowledged what had happened there," he said.
"To engage in threatening witness intimidation against people that are trying to bring the truth to light, that are trying to make sure that justice is done, it's just not right , , , and it underscores how serious this case is," Vignarajah said.
