COLUMBUS – Columbus police say doctors successfully delivered a woman’s baby boy after the pregnant woman was killed in a triple shooting on the Hilltop late Monday night.
UPDATE: This article had been revised to include the identities of two of the victims and other additional information.
A 23-year-old man was killed in the same shooting, bringing the total number of homicides in Columbus in the first two days of 2018 to 3 after the city recorded a record 143 murders in 2017.
According to homicide detectives, Marlazia Jones-Mattox, Keith Williams III and an unidentified man were all found inside a in the 600 block of S. Hague Avenue (see map, right) at approximately 11:43 p.m.
Williams was pronounced dead at the scene and Malazia-Mattox, 21, who was about 35 weeks pregnanet, was taken to Mt. Carmel West Hospital where she died later, but where doctors delivered her baby boy who was listed in critical condition at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, according to Sgt. Jeff Strayer of the Homicide Unit.
The thrid victim, who was not positively identified early Tuesday, was is very critical condition at Mt. Carmel West, Strayer said.
Police say it appears the shooting occurred during a robbery at the home. Strayer says investigators are searching for a silver or grey mid-size SUV that was seen leaving the scene. The SUV may have several bullet holes in the passenger side.
The first homicide of the year actually occurred at 11:22 p.m. on Dec. 31, but the suspect was apprehended after midnight, so Columbus police have included the incident on their list of 2018 homicides, Strayer said.
Sean Newman was charged with murder in the shooting death of his 30-year-old wife, Ashley Marie Newman, inside the couple’s Yukon Avenue home, Strayer said.
When officers arrived at the scene, witnesses told them that Sean Newman, 32, had driven away.
Strayer says Sean Newman was arrested after being involved in a traffic accident on I-270 at Alum Creek Drive at 12:20 a.m. on Jan. 1.