Three more people have been charged in the Nov. 11 shooting death of Dereon Williams, 18, on Columbus’ Southeast Side — including the mother of one of the accused shooters, The Columbus Dispatch reported on Saturday, Nov. 14. Anthony Turner-Johnson and Tion Knight, both 18, were charged Nov. 13 with murder, and Teiona Knight, 36, was charged with complicity, a second-degree felony, The Columbus Dispatch reported from documents filed in Franklin County Municipal Court.
Williams was shot on the evening of Wednesday, Nov. 11. Officers responded to a report of a shooting at about 6:30 p.m. on the 3200 block of Rabbit Hill Lane, near Rosebriar Lane, and found Williams with a gunshot wound, Columbus police said in a news release reported by The Columbus Dispatch on Nov. 13. Medics took Williams to OhioHealth Grant Medical Center, where he died at about 9:30 p.m., police said, according to The Columbus Dispatch.
The first arrest came the next day. Julius Diyanni Cherry, 21, of the Southeast Side, was arrested Nov. 12 and charged with murder, according to the police news release and online court records cited by The Columbus Dispatch. Police said Cherry was part of a group that planned the shooting, and that other suspects would likely be charged — a warning the Nov. 13 charges have now borne out, The Columbus Dispatch reported.
The case against Teiona Knight rests on what a Columbus police detective alleged in the court filings, The Columbus Dispatch reported. The detective alleged that Knight texted her son, Tion Knight, from her vehicle on the night of Williams’ death, telling him she had seen Williams outside walking toward a convenience store near their home on the 3200 block of Rabbit Hill, The Columbus Dispatch reported from the documents.
Knight then sat in her vehicle and watched as her son and two others ran from her home and fired handguns at Williams, police alleged in the criminal complaint, The Columbus Dispatch reported. In a probable cause affidavit for Tion Knight, a detective wrote that security video showed him and two other men stalking Williams before shooting and killing him, The Columbus Dispatch reported.
NewsForce247 covered the first arrest in this case on Friday, when, as we reported, a Columbus man was charged with murder in the Nov. 11 shooting that killed the 18-year-old. The four people now charged are Cherry, Turner-Johnson and Tion Knight with murder, and Teiona Knight with complicity, according to The Columbus Dispatch’s reporting of the court records.
Where each defendant stands now differs. Police arrested Cherry on Nov. 12 and Turner-Johnson on Nov. 14, and both remained at the Franklin County jail, The Columbus Dispatch reported. Tion Knight and Teiona Knight have warrants out for their arrest, The Columbus Dispatch reported.
The charges are allegations. None of the four has been convicted, and the details in the complaints and affidavits are the police account of the shooting, as reported by The Columbus Dispatch from the Franklin County Municipal Court filings — an account the defendants will have the chance to answer in court.
What we know — and what we’re still waiting on: confirmed through the court filings reported by The Columbus Dispatch are the four defendants, their charges, the two arrests in custody and the two outstanding warrants. Still open are the arrests of Tion and Teiona Knight, any statement from the defendants or their attorneys, and a motive — police have said the shooting was planned, but the filings reported so far do not say why Williams was targeted.
The killing is one of several Columbus homicide investigations NewsForce247 has followed this month, including the case in which, as we reported, Columbus police identified a Sullivant Avenue shooting victim earlier this week. Anyone with information about the Williams shooting may contact the Columbus police Homicide Unit at 614-645-4730 or provide an anonymous tip to Central Ohio Crime Stoppers at 614-461-8477, police said, according to The Columbus Dispatch.
What happens next: Cherry and Turner-Johnson face arraignment proceedings in Franklin County Municipal Court while held at the county jail, and officers continue to look for Tion and Teiona Knight on the outstanding warrants, The Columbus Dispatch reported. NewsForce247 will update this story as the remaining arrests are made and the cases move through court.
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