In 911 call, Tuttle mall shooter says he shot victim because 'he smacked me with a purse'

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated the location of the shooting as being at Scene75.

Seconds after multiple shots were fired inside the Mall at Tuttle Crossing Sunday afternoon, 911 calls began flooding in to dispatchers.

One of those callers identified himself as the gunman.

"A man assaulted me with his purse and I shot," said the man, later identified as 24-year-old Tyrone Gray Jr., of Mansfield. "I shot him."

Gray told dispatchers that he was walking back to his vehicle, parked outside the JCPenney store at the mall, despite the dispatcher telling him multiple times to stop moving around the mall because he was creating additional panic and endangering himself with the gun on him.

Gray said the firearm he used was in his pocket and described his clothing to the dispatcher.

When the dispatcher asked about the whereabouts of the man Gray had shot, Gray's answer was simple.

"He was laying on the ground."

That man, 25-year-old Dontarious Sylvester, also of Mansfield, died at the scene.

"He just threw a purse at me, hit me in my face," Gray said later in the nearly 8 1/2-minute 911 call. "He smacked me with a purse."

Gray said Sylvester was not armed, but had "assaulted me with a purse."

At one point during the call, a woman whom Gray identified as his girlfriend, got on the phone and told dispatchers they were in a white Dodge and the gun was located on the back of the trunk.

Moments later, Gray was taken into custody by Columbus police without incident. He has been charged with murder.

According to Franklin County Municipal Court records, Judge Eileen Paley gave Gray a bond of $50,000 during an initial hearing on Monday morning. Gray posted 10% of that bond, or $5,000, through a bond company and was released from the Franklin County jail, according to court records.

The arrest brought to an end a chaotic situation inside the mall that began around 2:40 p.m. Sunday.

Crowded mall presents unique chaos

Columbus Police Sgt. Joe Albert said multiple reports of gunfire were called in around that time at the Sole Stop shoe store at the mall near Dublin. In total, 41 calls to 911 were placed from inside the mall.

Violence in malls: Mall shootings rare, and most calls at three largest Columbus malls are unrelated to crime

The shooting was isolated and was not an active shooter targeting people at random, Albert said.

"However, obviously in a crowded mall like this, people hear gunshots and automatically assume we have an active-shooter situation," Albert said, describing the mall as a "chaotic scene."

Albert noted that there were numerous witnesses and access to surveillance footage, and asked anyone with information about the shooting to contact Columbus police.

According to court records, Sylvester, who also is from the Mansfield area, and Gray got into an argument inside the store and Sylvester hit Gray with a handbag. Court records said video from the store showed Gray then pulled out a firearm and shot multiple times at Sylvester before leaving the store.

James Berry, 30, of Cincinnati, said he was shopping for shoes in Sole Stop when he heard arguing, looked over and saw a man shoot someone in the head.

"And everybody running out, everyone running over each other," Berry said.

According to a post on Sole Stop's social media, the store will be closed until at least June 20. A message was left for the mall's management company on Monday.

Stores were on lockdown and cleared by police after the shooting

Albert said Columbus police methodically cleared stores on lockdown. Most shops were closed for the day following the shooting.

Alex Sekeres, 22, who works at Zumiez at the mall, said he heard pops of gunfire and saw people running. He and other store employees closed the gate and waited with others for the all-clear from police. Zumiez closed for the day, he said.

Berry said he was most worried about the children in the mall. Albert said there were children in the area when the incident occurred.

Albert asked those who were witnesses to the shooting to be mindful of their mental health.

"If you need to talk to somebody, you know, talk to a mental health professional if you're experiencing things that you just got traumatized by a major incident," Albert said.

On Monday, the mall opened as normal; however, some changes were noticeable. The parking lots had few cars, most of them bunched near the entrances.

Inside, fewer than a dozen people were seen on the main floor, including Pam Hunter, who lives near Marble Cliff and was walking for exercise.

"It seems to be happening everywhere," she said of gun violence. "So many people with guns, and when they get mad, it's the first thing that they think of. It's just really a shame."

Hunter, 62, said many stores that typically would be open were closed Monday.

"I almost wish they would start using metal detectors at the entrances. It's ridiculous to come into the mall with a gun."

Previous mall shootings at Polaris Fashion Place

Sunday's shooting was not the first mall shooting to take place at a mall in Greater Columbus in recent years. In 2021, there were two shootings within a month at Polaris Fashion Place.

The first took place on March 3, when Anthony Deshawn Truss Jr., 21, of Reynoldsburg, and 25-year-old Levon Sommerville, of the Northeast Side, opened fire inside the mall during a reported domestic incident.

Truss was sentenced to 11 to 13 years in prison. Sommerville was sentenced to 13 to 17 years in prison as well.

The second took place on March 15, when, according to court records, Arshad J. Lawson fired several shots around 3:15 p.m. in a first-floor atrium area inside the mall during a confrontation between two groups of young people, police had said.

One of the bullets grazed a male victim in his arm, but did not penetrate his skin, according to the complaint. Officials had said at the time that there were at least two intended victims — a 17-year-old male and an unidentified male.

Lawson, a 21-year-old former East Side man, was sentenced to 11 years in prison in connection with the shooting.

bbruner@dispatch.com

@bethany_bruner

Cole Behrens is a reporter at The Columbus Dispatch covering public safety and breaking news. You can reach him at CBehrens@dispatch.com or find him on Twitter at @Colebehr_report.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Tuttle mall 911 call: Alleged shooter says victim threw purse at him