COLUMBUS – A teenager gunned down on a West Side street and a man killed by a stray bullet from the incident became the city’s latest homicide victims.
Officers and fire personnel responding to a reported shooting in the area of 230 S. Eureka Avenue at approximately 9:28 a.m. Monday found an abandoned silver SUV running and later located 17-year-old Quentin William Smith in the alley behind 191 S. Wayne Avenue, suffering from a gunshot wound, said Sgt. Dave Sicilian of the Homicide Unit. Smith died later at Mt. Carmel West Hospital.
Officers determined the shooting occurred while Smith was inside of a vehicle with three other people in front of 215 S. Wayne Avenue when at least two suspects opened fire on the vehicle for unknown reasons, Sicilian said.
The suspects fled in a vehicle that was described as possibly a Honda Civic with tinted windows, Sicilian said.
Sicilian says detectives processing the scene noticed several bullet holes on the front portion of the home at 215 S. Wayne Avenue. When no one responded to the door as detectives tried to contact someone Sicilian says inside patrol officers forced entry into the home and found Severen Clayborn suffering from a gunshot wound apparently inflicted by a stray bullet from the shooting outside as he was likely sleeping inside.
Clayborn, 33, was pronounced dead at the scene, the 125th homicide victim of 2017 in Columbus, Sicilian said.
The investigation continues.
Anyone with any information on the incident is encouraged to call the Columbus Police Homicide Unit at 614-645-4730 or Crime Stoppers at 614-645-TIPS (8477).