Columbia man admits to manslaughter

A Columbia man pleaded guilty last week to manslaughter in a March 2017 shooting death on Madison Street.

Devontre D. Kennedy also pleaded guilty May 20 before Judge Jodie Asel to armed criminal action, second-degree assault and unlawful use of a weapon in the shooting that killed Shamya Brimmage and sent another woman to the hospital. Kennedy had initially been charged with second-degree murder.

Police connected Kennedy and another man, Darold Pruitt, to the shooting through witness descriptions of a vehicle seen in the area and the clothing worn by a man inside it.

With the plea Kennedy admitted to causing Brimmage’s death “acting in concert with another.”

Asel sentenced Kennedy to 20 years in prison.

Pruitt has a pretrial conference set for June 3, with a trial scheduled to start June 11, according to online court records. He is charged with second-degree murder, shooting from a vehicle and second-degree assault.

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