ATLANTA, Ga. — A man is in custody and charged with murder after police said he shot and killed a teenager who accidentally knocked on the wrong apartment door in southwest Atlanta.
According to police, 19-year-old Omarian Banks got a ride home in a Lyft, and was dropped off near the wrong apartment breezeway around 12:30 a.m. Friday.
Police say Banks and his girlfriend had just moved to the apartment and Banks wasn't familiar with the area. He went to what he thought was his apartment – upstairs and to the left – but he was at the wrong door.
Banks was using FaceTime to talk with his girlfriend when he knocked on the door. Shortly after, he began to walk away from the door. That's when police say the man inside, Darryl Bynes, 32, grabbed a gun and went onto his balcony to confront Banks. Police say after a short conversation, Bynes shot the teenager.
"I heard him say, 'Sorry, I'm at the wrong house.' Then the man said, 'No you're not. N****, you at the right house.' And he shot two more times," Banks' girlfriend told WSB-TV.
Another witness told a similar story.
"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 say Bynes initially told police he shot Banks in self-defense, but officers say he shot the teen from his balcony as Banks was coming down the stairs, trying to get away.
Family friend Michael Wallace described Banks as a hard-working young man who never bothered anybody.
“This is a 19-year-old child that didn’t even deserve to die, that hasn’t even lived his life,” Wallace said.
Bynes is charged with murder. He's being held at the Fulton County Jail.
His family told Pozen they don’t think he should be charged with murder.
“He is an innocent father. 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,” said his cousin, Makayla Johnson.
Bynes will go before a judge Saturday morning.
Cox Media Group
