On the night of September 9, 2017, 23-year-old Telmo Ortiz Jr. was found in a yard on Washington Street in Covington, Georgia, having suffered several gunshot wounds. He was pronounced dead at the scene after what investigators described as a confrontation that escalated from a dispute over a cell phone.

Shortly after the shooting, a Covington officer heard gunfire and saw a Ford Expedition leaving without its headlights. The driver, identified as Darnell Rene Floyd of Conyers, fled and led police on a high-speed chase that crossed into Rockdale County. The pursuit ended back in Covington after Rockdale deputies used a controlled crash maneuver to stop the SUV; a woman and an infant in the vehicle were unharmed.

Floyd was arrested and charged with Ortiz’s murder, along with aggravated assault, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime, and felony fleeing and attempting to elude police. Did anyone in the Covington area witness the confrontation or the vehicle leaving that night?