Canal Winchester man facing gun charges now a gun victim
Saadiq Teague promised his mom he would stay away from guns.
They had brought nothing but trouble to Teague and his family.
Teague had been arrested in New
York City in April for having an AK-47 assault rifle in a subway station about a long block from Times Square.
More than a month earlier, Teague's dad had been killed March 5 in a shootout with a Columbus police officer and a Franklin County Sheriff 's Office
deputy after a high-speed police pursuit and wrong-way, head-on crash on I-270 in Columbus.
Teague, a 19-year-old from Canal Winchester, had kept that promise to his mother even after a fight broke out early Monday afternoon.
The altercation left Teague shot six times and fortunate to be alive. His 17year-old girlfriend was involved in the altercation, but escaped unharmed.
He remains in Mount Carmel East Hospital in stable condition after several hours of surgery.
Teague was profiled by The Dispatch in July after family, teachers and others who knew him thought he was unfairly demonized as a potential terrorist or mass murderer following his arrest in New York. They described him as a kind, fun-loving kid who deserved a second chance.
“I'm lucky to still have my son,” Danielle Hurdle, Saadiq's mother, said from the lobby of the hospital. “I wish none of this had happened, but I'm so glad he wasn't the one with a gun. Even when he was fighting for his life Saadiq was more worried about having a future than having a gun.”
Following Monday's shooting Columbus police arrested Jaylon Smith, 19, also of Canal Winchester, and charged him with two counts of felonious assault. Smith, was arraigned in Franklin County Municipal Court on Tuesday.
Smith is being represented by attorneys Paul Scarsella and Olivia Rancour of the Maquire Schneider Hassay law firm.
Scarsella and Smith's mother both declined to comment on the incident.
Smith and Teague live on the same street in Canal Winchester and had been close friends for about five years until recently, according to Hurdle.
Hurdle said the trouble between Smith and her son started a couple weeks ago in a dispute over a parking spot. Hurdle said that during that incident, Smith fired a gun and a bullet struck Teague's car.
Hurdle said there was another incident between the two outside a local store last weekend that concluded with Teague eventually damaging Smith's car.
Early Monday afternoon, Teague was at his home with his girlfriend when
Smith confronted him and the two young men got into a fight.
According to Hurdle, Smith left the scene, went back to his house, and returned with a gun.
Hurdle said Teague pleaded with Smith to put the gun away, but he began shooting at Teague, who kept circling a car on foot trying to get away from Smith.
Hurdle said her son was shot twice in the right shoulder, once in the left shoulder, once in the right arm and once in each hip as his girlfriend dragged Teague on her back away from the gun fire.
Hurdle said another bullet crashed through a window and into her home.
She drove Teague to the hospital, where he was rushed into surgery. The bullets didn't hit Teague's organs.
“I heard the pop, pop, pop and couldn't believe there were gunshots,” Hurdle said. “Everyone knew Saadiq couldn't touch a gun after what happened with New York. I think that was part of this.”
Teague, who graduated from Canal Winchester High School in 2020, was arrested by New York City officers on April 16 while he was charging his cellphone in a subway station in Midtown
Manhattan and they saw the unloaded AK-47 laying on the ground next to is duffel bag.
He pleaded not guilty to two seconddegree felony counts of criminal possession of a weapon and two more third-degree felonies from criminal possession.
Teague told the Dispatch that it was a mistake to take the weapon out of state and regretted having the gun.
The incident drew extensive media attention in New York. Teague also made local headlines in Columbus in January 2020, when he helped rescue a woman from a burning building.
Teague's next court date in the New York case is in October.
Hurdle isn't sure whether her son being a shooting victim might effect Teague's ongoing legal case in New York.
She just wants her son out of the spotlight — and away from any trouble involving guns or anything else.
“My son is still here,” Hurdle said. “Now we need to make good on the future we all want for him.”
Dispatch reporter Eric Lagatta contributed to this report. mwagner@dispatch.com @Mikewagner48