Police say a man fatally shot a teenager who accidentally knocked on the wrong apartment door in Atlanta.
It happened about 12:30 a.m. Friday at The Retreat apartments, WSB-TV reported.
Police say 19-year-old Omarian Banks was dropped off from a Lyft ride near the wrong breezeway in the complex.
They say Banks and his girlfriend had just moved there and Banks wasn’t familiar with the area.
He went to what he thought was his apartment but it was the wrong door.
Banks knocked but eventually walked away.
Police say Banks was speaking to his girlfriend on FaceTime when he knocked.
As Banks began to walk away, police say the man in the wrong apartment came to the door and opened it.
Police identified the man inside the apartment as 32-year-old Darryl Bynes.
They say he grabbed a gun and went onto his balcony to confront Banks and after a short conversation, shot him.
Bynes is charged with murder. The TV station didn’t say if he has an attorney.
‘I heard him say, “Sorry, I’m at the wrong house.”,’ Banks’ girlfriend, Zsakeria Mathis, told WSB-TV.
‘Then the man said, “No you’re not. N****, you at the right house.”
‘And he shot two more times.’
A neighbor recalled the incident similarly.
‘I see him running around the corner and all you hear him saying is, “I am sorry. It was the wrong door”,’ a neighbor told WSB-TV.
‘(He said), “You ain’t come to the wrong door” and shot him a third time.
‘I saw him drop to the ground.’
Police said Bynes initially claimed he shot Banks in self-defense, but investigators believe he shot the teen from his balcony while the victim tried to get away.
‘This is a 19-year-old child that didn’t even deserve to die, that hasn’t even lived his life,’ family friend Michael Wallace said.
Bynes’ family disagrees with the murder charge.
‘He is an innocent father,’ his cousin, Makayla Johnson said.
‘He has five kids. He was protecting his family.
‘His truck was stolen earlier this week, right now, he’s just trying to protect his family.’
Emeh Achanga,the CEO of the Miss Petite Nigeria Brand is a lawyer turned blogger. She is very passionate about writing, with several publications and awards to her credit .She is currently working on publishing a collection of short stories which are basically a memoir about her exciting true experiences.
