Jamarion Fredrae Evans-Bennett, Dionta Davon Hughes (Franklin County Jail mug shots), Donnie Smith with two of his children (GoFundMe photo)
Three Ohio teens were charged with murder on Wednesday, two days after a father of three died from head injuries he suffered from an attack in early December outside of a Kroger supermarket in Columbus.
On the night of Dec. 6, Jamarion Fredrae Evans-Bennett, 19, Dionta Davon Hughes, 18, and a 17-year-old male allegedly had a fight with shoppers inside the Kroger on South High Street. According to the Columbus Police Department, when store security told to the teens to leave, they waited outside for 53-year-old Donald “Donnie” Smith, Jr., to exit the store and attacked him.
The defendants, who were allegedly spotted “laughing and enjoying themselves” while fatally kicking and punching Smith outside the store at around 7 p.m., went on to flee the scene when an armed witness confronted them, cops said.
On Dec. 14, police said that they were investigating the attack as a felonious assault that left Smith in critical condition. A GoFundMe campaign started under the name of Nicole Evans, Donnie Smith’s longtime partner and the mother to his daughter, 6, and son, 15, revealed that the victim was “injured so severely that he had to undergo brain surgery.”
“Despite doctors efforts to save his life, Donnie did not make it. He had no insurance, leaving the cost for funeral services to Nicole. He also left behind their two young children, just a week before Christmas,” a post said.
In an interview with local ABC affiliate WSYX, Evans said she is “devastated” and “sick to [her] stomach” over Donnie’s death.
“It’s just sickening, and I cannot believe you would take another person’s life,” Evans said. “It was a random act of violence.”
The outside of the Kroger supermarket where Donnie Smith was fatally beaten (WSYX/screengrab)
Evans said that Smith was a “great father” loved by his kids, family and friends.
“I don’t know how you could just take another person’s life so senselessly,” she said, revealing that her 6-year-old daughter has begun to realize her father can’t go to the park or draw with her anymore.
Donnie Smith’s family said that the father of two sons and one daughter, and grandfather to one granddaughter, died on Dec. 18, one week before Christmas. Smith “loved race cars, softball, and sports,” his obituary said.
Franklin County court records reviewed by Law&Crime show that Evans-Bennett and Hughes were arrested Wednesday and had arraignments scheduled for Thursday morning. The third suspect, a minor, was arrested the same day as his co-defendants. It’s unclear at this time if the 17-year-old is being charged as an adult.
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