Barber gets 18 to life for killing landlord

By the time Columbus police officers arrived to investigate a shooting at a Driving Park barbershop last fall, Lamar D. Reynolds had removed the remaining ammunition from his gun and placed the weapon on a counter in the shop.

Reynolds, a barber who lived and worked in the shop, told detectives that he had shot Damon Jenkins, his landlord, in self-defense.

He maintained that defense when he testified in his murder trial this week.

A Franklin County jury didn’t buy his story — at least not completely. The jurors deliberated for about five hours over two days before convicting Reynolds on Friday of murder as a result of felonious assault in the Sept. 30 shooting. The jury found him not guilty on another count: murder with intent to kill. He also was convicted of having a gun despite a previous felony drug conviction.

Common Pleas Judge Mark Serrott sentenced Reynolds to 18 years to life in prison.

Reynolds, 37, said Jenkins, 43, attacked him during an argument in the backyard of the barbershop in the 1600 block of East Livingston Reynolds Avenue and tried to wrestle away the gun that Reynolds was carrying in a holster.

“I felt like I was fighting for the gun,” he said under questioning by his attorney, Ian Jones. “I was in fear for my life.”

Evidence showed that Jenkins was shot four times in his legs. He managed to stagger to a convenience store across the street but died from blood loss because one bullet had struck an artery in his left leg.

Reynolds said he met Jenkins in 2001 when they were in the same federal prison. He testified that he was homeless in Florida in April 2017 when Jenkins called and asked if he would come to Columbus to operate Jenkins’ barbershop. Reynolds said he paid rent of $125 a month to live and work there.

The deadly argument, he testified, was about Jenkins “not respecting landlord/ tenant rights” and getting into Reynolds’ property. It began with a shove from Jenkins and turned into a wrestling match, Reynolds said.

Assistant Prosecutor Jack Wong said the number of shots fired at an unarmed man, combined with Reynolds’ failure to retreat after the initial altercation, made his use of deadly force unjustified.