COLUMBUS – Three fatal shootings over four days around the Christmas holiday raised the record number of homicides in Columbus this year to 169.
Andrew Merritt, 29, died at a hospital Saturday night after being found by officers in front of a residence on S. Harris Avenue near W. Broad Street in the Hilltop, Sgt. James Marable of the Homicide Unit said.
Anyone with information regarding this incident is encouraged to call the Columbus Police Homicide Unit at 614-645-4730 or Central Ohio Crime Stoppers at 614-461-TIPS (8477).
A 25-year-old man has been charged with murder in the drive-by shooting death of a woman late Wednesday night on the South Side, Marable said.
Investigators said William Boyce and Courtney Kelley, 26, had been involved in an argument earlier in the day and Boyce fired shots into Kelley’s residence from a vehicle as it drove past the home on Dolby Drive just after 11:20 p.m. The vehicle was stopped and Boyce, who was a passenger in the vehicle, was arrested by patrol officers later that night, Marable said.
A man was killed earlier in the evening when Marable says a gunfight broke out during a meeting to sell some merchandise at a Northeast Side apartment complex.
Shandese Brunner was found suffering from an apparent gunshot wound in the area of 1771 Shanley Drive at 7:42 p.m. and died later at Riverside Methodist Hospital, Marable said.
A 30-year-old man and a 24-year-old woman came forward during the initial investigation claiming that they had arranged to meet Brunner to make a sale and a fight broke out during the exchange in which shots were fired and Brunner was fatally injured, Marable said.
There was no immediate information on whether any charges would be filed.
A 14-year-old boy was treated for a gunshot wound after he was grazed by a bullet while riding in a vehicle on the Northeast Side Christmas night, police said. Police said the teen told them that he was a passenger in a vehicle that came under fire in the area of Karl and Morse Roads from the driver of a grey vehicle, who fired several times, grazing the boy on his leg.