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Woman who was at Warren officer-involved shooting killed by gunfire in Detroit
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
Regan Jelks, 24, who spent two months in the Trumbull County jail in 2015 after a jury convicted her for her role in a 2013 officer-involved shooting, was shot to death early Sunday in Detroit.
Jelks was convicted in 2015 of two counts of complicity to improperly handling firearms in a motor vehicle in the death of Taemarr Walker, 24, of Warren.
A Warren police officer fatally shot Walker when he disobeyed the officer’s commands on Risher Road Southwest. Jelks was seen on dash-cam video of the incident screaming as she was led from the vehicle.
Jelks died Sunday of multiple gunshot wounds, the Wayne County Medical Examiner’s Office in Michigan said. Her death was ruled a homicide.
The miheadlines.com website says Jelks was killed in the parking lot of Club Venus on Michigan Avenue in Detroit at 1:20 a.m. as she was getting into a vehicle in the club’s parking lot.
An unidentified suspect exited a vehicle parked next to the vehicle she was attempting to get into and shot her, the website reported, adding that she died at the scene.
Jelks had addresses in Detroit and on Woodbine Avenue Southeast in Warren when she went on trial in 2015. In March 2015, Judge Peter Kontos of common pleas court sentenced her to two months in the county jail.
She was indicted on charges of involuntary manslaughter and improper handling of firearms in 2014. She spent 50 days in the jail before she was able to make bond.
In the Walker killing, the Warren officer was attending to a car in the ditch when Walker, driving Jelks’ car, dropped off of Risher Road and into the ditch on the other side.
The officer spotted an assault rifle in the back of the car and pointed his handgun at Walker as Walker moved toward the rifle. Walker then moved to the front of the car. The officer said he fired past Jelks and hit Walker as Walker pulled a handgun out from under the dashboard.
Prosecutors said Jelks was charged because Walker died “as a proximate result of [her] committing or attempting to commit” the firearms offense.
Jelks also had been spending time in Boardman and Austintown as recently as May 6, according to court records.
Jelks was living in an apartment on Homestead Drive in Boardman when she was arrested on a charge of petty theft at the Walmart in Austintown on May 6.
An Austintown police report said she and Shauntae Martinez, 38, of Sherwood Avenue in Youngstown, were using the self checkout but didn’t scan clothing and diapers valued at $25.42. Jelks was arraigned Wednesday. She pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanor offense and was due back in court June 19. Martinez was charged with misdemeanor complicity.