Reginald Davis could smell the barbecue as he stepped off the bus near the corner of North Avenue and Gay Street. His bosses at the Allen Family Appliance store, where he was a longtime service technician, had closed early for a private party, and Davis let his nose lead him toward their grill, a reward for spending the day on jury duty downtown.
Foot traffic was heavy. The methadone clinic across the way was open and serving, and some of the neighborhood's daytime workers had begun to make their ways home. Davis didn't see the two masked men until just before they started shooting.
"Run" was all he could think, and he did, making it a half-block before collapsing. He'd been hit four times. Two other men lay dying on the sidewalk and a fourth victim, Terrell Allen, 35, would eventually become the only person charged in the May 15, 2008, incident.
On Tuesday, Allen pleaded guilty to illegally possessing ammunition, which he's not allowed to own because of prior felony convictions.
That means Davis, who'd been called as a defense witness, won't have to testify at a trial. It's just as well. He doesn't know about the supposed drug gang rivalry between Allen and another man that reportedly led to the shooting. He just knows he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
He remembers seeing two men wearing sunglasses and bandannas over their faces, like old-time bandits. "I didn't see their eyes," Davis said, now 48. "Just the muzzle flash and then the light went off in my head."
A bullet grazed his scalp, one tore clean through his left thigh, another landed in his ankle and a fourth ripped through the spot between his left index and middle fingers. He's partially blind in one eye, has nerve damage up and down his left side, and he can no longer bend his left pointer finger or work. Two bullets are still in his body.
He wakes many nights with his heart racing, still terrified by what happened that afternoon - even after all the therapy, both physical and mental.
For months, he was afraid to leave his house. He still can't be out after dark. He has to live with his sister, who takes care of him.
"It's changed my whole life," he said.
