Teen Squeegee Worker Convicted Of Fatally Shooting Man With Bat

BALTIMORE, MD — A former squeegee worker was convicted of voluntary manslaughter this week in the July 2022 death of Timothy Reynolds, who approached the teen with a baseball bat before he was fatally shot.

A jury on Wednesday also found the 16-year-old boy guilty of possessing a firearm under age 21 and using a gun in the commission of a crime of violence, Baltimore City State's Attorney Ivan Bates said in a news release. The jury acquitted him of more serious charges, including first- and second-degree murder, the Baltimore Banner reported.

Patch is not naming the young man because defense attorneys have petitioned to move the case to juvenile court for sentencing.

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The teen faces 35 years in prison, prosecutors said. A sentencing date has not been scheduled.

"The outcome of this case does not change the trauma that has been inflicted across the board by the events that took place in July of 2022," Bates said. "A man will never return home to his family, and a young person now faces decades of incarceration."

The trial stemmed from a July 7, 2022, confrontation near the intersection of Light and East Conway Street, police said. According to prosecutors, Reynolds got into an argument with the teen and multiple other squeegee workers at the intersection before the shooting.

Video evidence showed Reynolds walking away from the group with a baseball bat in his hand, prosecutors said, but three group members followed Reynolds and surrounded him.

A verbal argument followed, and one of the workers appeared to throw an object at Reynolds, striking him in the head, prosecutors said. Reynolds swung the bat once after the object hit him, according to the Banner.

Video then showed Reynolds stumble and appear disoriented before the teen shot him five times. The teen then fled south on South Charles Street, prosecutors said.

Reynolds was taken to R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center at the University of Maryland, where he died.

According to the Banner, Reynolds was a married father of three and an engineer.

The high-profile tragedy reignited a longstanding debate about Baltimore's squeegee workers, mostly Black youths from disadvantaged backgrounds looking to make fast cash. City leaders have since banned the practice at certain high-traffic intersections and stepped up efforts to connect squeegee workers with above-board job opportunities.

During the trial, defense attorneys argued Reynolds was the aggressor, his anger fueled by a longstanding irritation with squeegee workers whose presence at downtown intersections dates back decades.

"Mr. Reynolds' personal views triggered him, and it led to an unprovoked attack on children," Gordon said. "He took the law into his own hands and it ended poorly for him."

But prosecutors gave jurors a different narrative of the moments preceding Reynolds' death.

"He was out-maneuvered and he was gunned down," prosecutor Cynthia Banks said, counting off the five gunshots that wounded him, including three to his back. "You cannot overlook the fact that Mr. Reynolds was shot dead."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.