Man sentenced to three years in deadly 2019 Nashville wreck

Rachel Wegner, Nashville Tennessean
·2 min read

Update: Leon Bell Jr. was sentenced to three years in prison on Feb. 9, 2023, after being convicted of vehicular homicide-reckless conduct.

After a bizarre shooting and car crash led to the death of a man in December, Leon Bell Jr. was charged and turned himself in Thursday night, Metro Nashville Police said.

Bell, 46, was charged by a grand jury with vehicular homicide by recklessness and not having insurance related to a crash involving a death, police said. His bond wass set at $50,000.

The charges stem from an wreck involving Bell and Colin Reno, 22, on Dec. 29, 2019.

Bell told police he was fleeing gunfire nearby and sped away in his Buick Park Avenue. He ran a red light on Fourth Avenue South.

Bell's car collided with Reno's Nissan Altima at the intersection of Fourth and Lafayette Street, police said. Reno later died of his injuries at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Reno's loved ones, Bell tell their stories

Colin Reno, 22, was killed in a car wreck after the driver of another vehicle ran a red light while trying to avoid gunfire, Nashville police said. He's pictured, left, with a friends including a teammate from the Belmont Abbey College golf team, Brody Davis, far right.
Colin Reno, 22, was killed in a car wreck after the driver of another vehicle ran a red light while trying to avoid gunfire, Nashville police said. He's pictured, left, with a friends including a teammate from the Belmont Abbey College golf team, Brody Davis, far right.

Reno's friends said he moved to Nashville for love. To them, he was a brother, former golf teammate Brody Davis said. 

Reno moved to Nashville in 2019 to live with his girlfriend after graduating that May from Belmont Abbey College in Belmont, North Carolina, Davis said.

"Colin was always the life of the party, always there for us when times were tough and was known to always take care of his family at any given time. Really at a loss for words," Davis said in a message a day after the crash.

COLIN RENO'S STORY: Crash victim struck by car fleeing shooting was 'always there for us'

After the crash, Bell told The Tennessean a passenger in his car exchanged gunfire with people standing on a street nearby just before the wreck. He said he was trying to get the six people in his car — including three children — away from danger.

"I just keep thinking about how I took somebody's life. I'm just numb, I'm just numb," Bell said in December. "I know there's nothing I can say or do to bring him back."

'I WANT THEM TO KNOW I'M SORRY': A man was trying to get children away from gunfire before a fatal car crash. Here's his side of the story.

Colin Reno, 22, is pictured, center, with friend Brody Davis.
Colin Reno, 22, is pictured, center, with friend Brody Davis.

Bell and the three adult passengers in his car were transported to VUMC with non-life threatening injuries, one with at gunshot wound to his right forearm, police said. The children, who police said were not in child safety seats, were transported to Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital for evaluation.

Bell said he was concerned for Reno's family.

"I want them to know I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I hope they find peace, and God will be with them also in their time of bereavement," he said.

Reno's girlfriend, Chloe Fazzola, said she and Reno hoped to move to Charlotte and get married one day.

"We had all of these plans to be together for the rest of our lives and it’s truly heartbreaking that his happened to my best friend but I know God has a plan and he’s in a better place now," she said in a message after the wreck.

Craig Shoup and Mariah Timms contributed to this story.

Find reporter Rachel Wegner at rawegner@tennessean.com or on Twitter @rachelannwegner.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Man sentenced for 2019 Nashville wreck that killed Curtis Reno