Columbus Man Claims Fatal Gym Shooting was Self-Defense, Jury Verdict Differs

DEBARYLIFE – Two moms’ eyes filled with tears as a Franklin County jury found a man guilty of murder for a shooting death that occurred following a pickup basketball game at a Columbus gym.

Tae’Von Bush’s mother, 20, went up to the mother of Tobias Cunningham, 23, who was shot by Bush on March 28, 2023, following a basketball game.

Bush’s mother remarked, “From one mother to another, I can’t even imagine what you’re going through.”

Bush acknowledged shooting Cunningham to death inside the Esporta gym on Columbus’ Northwest Side’s Tanglewood Boulevard, just off Hilliard-Rome Road but claimed the gunshot was fired in self-defense.

Until March 28, 2023, the two men had never met.

Before returning a guilty vote, the jury deliberated for around ninety minutes. Bush was convicted by the jury on two charges of murder: one for killing Cunningham on purpose and another for killing Cunningham while carrying out a felonious attack. Regarding the charge of aggravated murder, the jury found Bush not guilty.

Bush was sentenced to life in prison without the prospect of release for a minimum of 23 years by Judge Mark Serrott.

One of Bush’s relatives, who had been present in court the entire trial, attempted to leave as Serrott was imposing his sentence. Instructing the guy to stay and endure the rest of the term, Serrott stated that Bush might have been given a life sentence without the possibility of release had the jury found him guilty of aggravated murder.

Serrott replied, “He’s gone forever over nothing at all.” “This was not self-defense at all in my humble opinion.”

In his testimony on Tuesday, Bush stated that during the first of the men’s multiple pickup basketball games in the gym, Cunningham had verbally threatened him. Following a hard foul in the first game, the two men got into a fight, but they still participated in the second game.

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After questioning Bush regarding the threats, Assistant Franklin County Prosecutor Steve Schott informed the jury that Bush remained in the gym and watched a pickup game from the sidelines before going up to Cunningham and removing a gun.

Bush responded, “I was stuck,” when asked why, after driving himself to the gym, he didn’t just walk out. “I felt for sure by then there was people outside the gym.”

The jury was informed by Schott When Bush approached Cunningham, who was unarmed, he had been waiting for over thirty minutes and had a revolver in the waistband of his shorts. Bush said that he fled the scene of the shooting out of panic.

“The defendant continued to play basketball because he was so afraid for his life. During his closing remarks, Schott told the jurors, “He keeps playing basketball with the man he’s so terrified of.” “A foul was committed to commence this. Rather than being afraid, this defendant was furious.”

Cunningham was shot in the back twice, according to the evidence that was presented during the two-day trial. Some bullets hit the basketball court’s floor, and one hit a basketball that another player had raced to as the rounds were fired.

The shooting took place on March 28, 2023, at approximately 8:45 p.m. When Columbus police arrived at the fitness center’s gym following a report of gunfire, they saw Cunningham bleeding on the floor. After being taken by emergency personnel, he passed away shortly after at a nearby hospital.

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Court papers state that Bush fled with other gym patrons who were fleeing the shots, but witnesses eventually recognised him. Bush was not a member of the gym and could be seen on camera passing by the front desk without checking in.

Bush’s lawyer, Sam Shamansky, claimed that Cunningham forced Bush to shoot because he was “scared out of his skull” during the intervening period.

“His goal is not to harm people; his goal is to shoot baskets. “Tae’Von did not initiate anything,” Shamansky stated.

In his deposition, Bush stated that he delivered the gun to the friend he had obtained it from after they had met in a parking lot, travelled to Indiana for more than a week, returned to Columbus, and turned himself in to the police.

Shamansky bemoaned the gun violence in Columbus during his concluding remarks on Wednesday. He claimed that the atmosphere in which Bush lived made even a verbal threat to kill very serious.

“There’s no more extreme threat than ‘I’m going to kill you’,” stated Shamansky. “Is Bush deserving of death? because he chose the incorrect gym.”

In closing arguments with the jury, Schott pointed at Bush and told Shamansky that if he wanted to begin addressing gun violence, he should look to his left, where Bush was seated.

Schott stated, “His client is involved in it.” “He settled what should have been a fist fight with a gun.”

Bush filed guilty pleas to possessing a weapon while disabled and carrying a concealed weapon before to the start of his trial on Monday. When the incident happened, Bush was on probation after entering a guilty plea to two counts of breaking and entering in 2022.