COLUMBUS – With the city closing in on a record number of homicides, local and federal authorities are launching an effort to address violence in two Columbus neighborhoods.
CORRECTION: Corrects the number of homicides in Columbus in 2020 to 126
Law enforcement agencies and prosecutors will tap dangerous dangerous offenders for federal prosecution in the “hot zones” of Linden on the Northeast Side and the Hilltop, which together have accounted for 44 of the 126 homicides reported in Columbus so far in 2020.
The most homicides ever recorded in Columbus in a single year was 143 in 2017.
As part of the initiative, local and federal authorities will work together to prosecute those people in nine categories who are prohibited under federal law from possessing a firearm. They include convicted felons, domestic violence offenders and those under a court-authorized restraining order.
Violations can be punished by up to 10 years in federal prison while those possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking offense or violent crime face sentences of five years and to life in prison, stricter punishment than allowed by state law.
The section of the Northeast Side along Cleveland Ave. east of I-71 and north of I-670, accounted for 23 of the 24 homicides in Linden from January through September, according to local crime statistics cited by U.S. Attorney David DeVillers.
There were 20 homicides were committed during the first nine months of the year Columbus Division of Police zone which includes the Hilltop, 11 of them in a single precinct located south of W. Broad Street, on either side of I-270, DeVillers said.
The two patrol zones accounted for 71 non-fatal shootings during the first three-quarters of 2020.
Columbus police seized more than 1,500 illegal firearms via search warrants and misdemeanor and felony investigations, including 244 firearms in September.