Document: Timothy Reynolds shot 5 times in July encounter with squeegee workers
BALTIMORE -- An attorney representing the family of Timothy Reynolds took the rare move of releasing still images of an encounter with squeegee workers where Reynolds was shot five times.
Reynolds was killed near the intersection of Light and Conway Streets near the Inner Harbor on July 7.
"A fiction has been presented to the public, a fiction that the victim was some crazed, intoxicated bat-wielding maniac who viciously attacked a number of children," Thiru Vignarajah said on behalf of the Reynolds' family at a Tuesday morning news conference. "And the children—in the heat of the moment, in self-defense, in a lapse of judgment—fired back because they had to."
Vignarajah showed reporters still pictures of closed-circuit camera video of the incident.
One picture showed Reynolds' Volkswagen stopped at a traffic light on Conway Street.
Another image showed the then-14-year-old suspect leaning on Reynolds' car. It is unclear what was said, but afterward, Reynolds turned the corner, parked and walked toward the squeegee workers with a bat, according to the document.
At that point, prosecutors wrote that the suspect came back to retrieve a backpack with a gun inside.
An image shows him putting a ski mask over his face before rejoining other squeegee workers.
Prosecutors wrote in the filing that as Reynolds was away, one of the squeegee workers started throwing rocks at him. The group then formed a half circle around Reynolds.
Reynolds swings his bat once over his head.
A squeegee worker then hit Reynolds directly in the head with "a brick or piece of concrete" leaving a "one-and-a-half-inch deep cut."
Prosecutors wrote that Reynolds became disoriented.
"At that point, the victim is holding the bat up in the air trying to steady himself before he starts to fall," according to prosecutors. "The defendant, who is the furthest away from the victim, can be seen in the video footage shooting the victim as the victim is turning away from the defendant. The defendant is shooting and backing away as the victim is dropping to the ground after the first shot to his head."
The document is titled "State's response to clarify factual misrepresentations in defendant's memorandum in support of transfer to juvenile court."
Prosecutors noted "counter to defense counsel's misrepresentations, the victim's blood heart alcohol level is 0.03 not 0.10."
"He wasn't drunk," Vignarajah said. "He didn't hit anyone with a bat. There's no forensic evidence, video evidence or live testimony evidence suggesting that."
He also pushed back against claims by the teen's lawyers that this was self-defense.
"This was an unprovoked attack based on someone who held personal views about squeegees and just decided to take the law into his own hands, and it ended poorly for him," J. Wyndal Gordon said at a news conference Monday.
State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby wrote in a statement Monday that she stood by a recommendation the case be moved from adult to juvenile court.
Vignarajah vowed the Reynolds family will do what they can to stop that from happening.
"When the prosecutors have abdicated their responsibility, they've essentially joined their buddies on the defense team, the victims have no choice," he said.
A hearing is scheduled for Thursday morning. It is unclear whether it will be open to the public.
"The judge certainly has a very difficult decision, but the victims deserve the truth to be known, and we don't know how else to get it out there. You deserve to see the video," Vignarajah said.
The case has been hard on both families.
The teen suspect's mother wept at a press conference Monday.
"I can't even tell you where I am mentally right now," she said. "It's just hard, they snatched my son. I don't even know what's going on."
At a separate press conference, Reynolds' sister had a more somber message.
"There are no winners here," she said. "No one is excited that this is a child being charged with this heinous crime. None of this is going to bring my brother back."
