FULTON COUNTY, Ga. — Editor's note: The video above is from a previous report
Three years after prosecutors said he shot and killed a man who knocked on the wrong apartment door, a jury has convicted the suspect on murder charges. Darryl Bynes was sentenced to life in prison plus 15 years.
The Fulton County District Attorney's Office announced that Bynes was found guilty on all counts Tuesday. A jury convicted Bynes on charges of murder, felony murder, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, criminal damage to property in the first degree, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony.
Prosecutors said that on March 29, 2019, Atlanta Police Department was called to an apartment complex on Fairburn Road after a shooting. They found 19-year-old Omarian Banks lying on the ground bleeding from his neck and waist, APD said. Despite neighbors and EMS trying to provide medical attention, Banks died at the complex.
Bynes is the person who called 911, telling dispatch he fired in self-defense, according to the DA's office.
APD detectives said Bynes fired his gun three times, striking Banks twice in the neck. The third round went into a family's apartment nearby but no one was hurt.
While Bynes was detained, he told officers he thought someone was trying to break into his second-floor apartment. That's when he locked his door and grabbed his Smith & Wesson .40 caliber handgun and scoped out what was happening from his balcony, according to investigators.
Throughout Bynes' trial neighbors testified hearing Banks apologize for going to the wrong door. Bynes fired anyway, prosecutors said, striking the teen as he was running away.
Both of them lived in the same apartment complex, however, they did not know each other.
“A young man was shot dead because he knocked on the wrong door,” said District Attorney Fani Willis in a news release. “It is an absolute shame that we are losing our youth to people responding to minor inconveniences with firearms. I’m keeping Mr. Banks’ family in my prayers, and I hope they find some comfort in this conviction.”