BALTIMORE — Tuesday, the trial began for the teenage “squeegee worker” accused of shooting and killing Timothy Reynolds last year in downtown Baltimore.
The first day of trial was emotional for both of the families involved. Emotional for the Reynolds' family for having to re-live the day and moments leading up to his death, and emotional for the family of the teenage who’s now facing first-degree murder.
That teen, who WMAR-2 News is not naming because he’s a minor, was 14 -years-old during the time of the incident.
It happened at the corner of Light and Conway Street in downtown Baltimore when a group of teenagers who were working as squeegee workers had an encounter with 48-year-old Reynolds.
That encounter led to him grabbing a metal bat from the trunk of his car approaching the teens, and swinging it before he was shot.
In opening statements, the prosecutors argued that since Reynolds was shot five times, they don’t believe it was self-defense.
They said witnesses in the area, camera footage from CCTV and dash cameras has helped dissect what happened that day.
Defense attorneys, however, argued this incident was road rage at its finest.
They claim Reynolds never got his car serviced by the squeegee workers but he had an issue with squeegee workers in general. Defense attorney’s also said he was taking medication for mental illness.
Evidence also shows he left his vehicle running in the heat of the moment when he walked across the street with that metal bat before he was killed.
“The attack was unprovoked, like no one called Mr. Reynolds over and said hey come over here and talk to me. No one serviced Mr. Reynolds' car, there was no squeegee work done to his car," Gordon said.
"This is not a case of squeegee workers, or children washing windshields, this case is about road rage and Mr. Reynolds was the person who was the perpetrator of road rage in this case and unfortunately, the results were tragic. But the bottom line is none of this would’ve happened if Mr. Reynolds did not get out of his car with a baseball bat, walk across eight lanes of traffic to confront these children,” Gordon said.
Derede McAlpin, who’s a representative of the teen's family, said at the end of the day they just want the teen’s trial to be fair.
“It’s very tough for everyone involved. It’s tough for the Reynolds' family, it’s equally tough for the Scott family. They weren’t put in this position but for the actions of an adult, they are looking for fairness, they are looking for a constitutional right,” McAlpin said.
That teen is facing four charges; first-degree murder, using a firearm, carrying a firearm and possession of firearm by minor.
Prosecutors said cameras show the teen wearing a mask during this incident.
Many eye witnesses identified teenagers at the scene in that altercation but none of them could definitively say it was the teen sitting in the courtroom who pulled the trigger.
