Self-defense claim rejected in fatal shooting

A Franklin County jury was asked to determine whether Zhontel M. Angel was acting in selfdefense when he used a semi-automatic rifle to repeatedly shoot a 31-yearold man outside a South Side duplex.

The jurors deliberated for fewer than four hours Thursday before deciding the evidence didn’t support the claim. They convicted Angel, 24, of murder with a gun specification in the July 25, 2017, death of James M. Lundy.

Angel will be given a mandatory term of life in prison with no chance of parole for 18 years when he is sentenced on Oct. 28 by Common Pleas Judge Chris Brown.

The jury acquitted him of the more-serious charge of aggravated murder, which required proof that he acted with prior calculation and design.

Testimony in the trial, which stretched over two weeks, established that the incident stemmed from a domestic dispute between Angel and his girlfriend at a duplex in the 1600 block of Smith Road, where Angel lived. The girlfriend decided to leave the residence and waited outside for her mother, who eventually drove to the residence with Lundy, her fiancée.

Lundy and Angel exchanged words and got into a fistfight on the front lawn, whereupon Angel went into the duplex and got an SKS rifle. Angel came back outside and fired eight rounds, three of which struck Lundy, who died at the scene.

Angel did not testify, but Assistant Prosecutors Brian Simms and Thomas Vaccaro showed the jury a video of his interview with a Columbus police detective. Angel told the detective he feared for his life because of the actions of Lundy and three other men who had come to the scene with Lundy.