COLUMBUS – A man is in jail but police are still looking for clues in two fatal shootings that happened almost simultaneously on the East Side Saturday afternoon.
Dalon Smoot was arrested after a short chase and charged in the death of Gerald Lee Bishop II, 31, who was found by officers checking out a reported shooting in the 4100 block of Larry Place at 3:15 p.m. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
At the same time, officers responding to a report of a shooting in the 2100 block of Willamont Ave found Tajuan Patterson, 40, who was also pronounced dead at the scene.
Witnesses to the incident on Larry Place told officers that Smoot, 21, shot Bishop and ran away, homicide investigators said. With the help of witnesses and the police helicopter, Smoot was arrested in in the area of Baxter Drive and Pyle Place.
He was charged with murder and is currently in the Franklin County Jail.
No suspect has been named in Patterson’s murder.
These were the 40th and 41st homicides of 2016
Anyone with information about either incident is asked to contact the Columbus Police Homicide Unit at 614-645-4730 or the Crime Stoppers Tip Line at 614-461-TIPS (8477).