On June 3, 2024, Tyrez Turner shot a semi-automatic gun converted into an automatic weapon into a crowd at a vigil for a homicide victim at Krumm Park in Columbus.
The bullets struck two of the dozens attending the event, killing them, as Turner drove away.
On April 23 of this year, Turner learned his sentence for the crime. He’ll spend at least 29 years in prison before the possibility of parole, as he was handed a life sentence by Franklin County Common Pleas Court Judge Jeff Brown.
Turner, 20, showed no emotion as Brown sentenced him, or as members of the families of victims Jakwaun Kimbro, 18, and Lonnie Johnston, 29, spoke before his sentencing.
Tyrez Turner entered Alford plea
Turner entered an Alford plea during a March 9 hearing to aggravated murder charges. An Alford plea allows a defendant to enter a guilty plea to avoid a trial while maintaining their innocence.
On June 3, 2024, Turner and two other unidentified people had 32-year-old LaDavia Fortner drive them to Krumm Park on Columbus’ East Side. A vigil for 18-year-old Da’Maya Cumberlander was taking place in the park a day after Cumberlander died.
Cumberlander was the niece of the man who is serving a 20-year prison sentence for killing Turner’s mother.
Kimbro and Johnston’s families spoke of the loss of their loved ones as leaving a massive void in their lives, and how they died – while attending a memorial honoring another victim of violence in a park – makes it even harder to comprehend.
“He tried to play a bigger role than he was assigned,” one of Kimbro’s aunts said. “Jakwaun wasn’t at war with him.”
The families asked that their names not be used because there have been threats made to their safety.
Johnston’s sister said forgiving Turner is something she struggles with.
“God said to forgive my enemy, but he doesn’t say the time and day I have to,” she said.
Many of the victims’ family members who spoke at Turner’s hearing also spoke at Fortner’s, expressing frustration that at 32 years old, she willingly drove teenagers to commit a double homicide that could have been worse.
“To me, she pulled the gun also and killed my grandson. She knew what they were going to do and she didn’t care because she thought they were going to get away with it,” Kimbro’s grandmother said.
Both Turner and Fortner gave statements to Judge Brown offering their condolences to the families.
“As long as I’m living I will always be sorry. There has not been one day or one night that I’ve slept peacefully because of my involvement in this sad and traumatic situation,” Fortner said.
Brown sentenced Fortner to four to six years in prison. She previously pleaded guilty to two counts of involuntary manslaughter.
Fortner’s sentence drew ire from the families of both Kimbro and Johnston after the hearing ended. The families believed Fortner should have received additional prison time and faced stiffer charges.
What happened in the Krumm Park shooting?
According to court records, Turner sent a text message the day before the shooting referencing his mother.
“I miss mommy so much I haven’t did [expletive] to make her proud I feel guilty everyday,” the text message read. “Something really wrong w me I’m evil now I only think of negative [expletive] I really want to kill [somebody] so bad bro.”
Cumberlander, the homicide victim being honored at the Krumm Park vigil, is the niece of the man who fatally shot Turner’s mother in 2019.
According to court records, two hours before the shooting, a message was sent from Turner’s phone: “get switch cmon.”
Switch devices are used to convert semi-automatic handguns into weapons that can fire like automatic ones.
Video from a gas station before the shooting shows Turner with Fortner and her vehicle, as well as surveillance footage from an alley near Krumm Park about 30 minutes before shots rang out. Court records say Turner was doing surveillance in the area at that time.
The license plate of Fortner’s vehicle was visible in that footage. Before the shooting, Turner and the two other men who were in the car covered up the license plate of Fortner’s vehicle with a shirt.
The other two people inside the vehicle have not been publicly identified or charged in connection with the shooting.
Court records state Turner’s phone was put into airplane mode, making it unable to be geographically tracked, about an hour and 20 minutes before the shooting. It was taken off that mode and resumed activity three minutes after the first 911 call from the park came in to dispatchers.
The following day, Turner searched for his name in court records to determine if charges had been filed against him, court records show.
On June 6, 2024, Fortner was pulled over in her vehicle. Turner was also in the car and fled on foot, throwing a .45-caliber handgun while he was running. Court records say police recovered that handgun, and ballistic testing matched it to a casing found in Fortner’s car and casings from the shooting scene.
Fortner worked for a youth center at the time of her arrest, which is how she knew Turner, court records say.
Reporter Bethany Bruner can be reached at bbruner@dispatch.com.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Man learns sentence for trying to avenge mother in Krumm Park shooting
Reporting by Bethany Bruner, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
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