COLUMBUS – With two fatal shooting incidents within a few hours of each other Monday, Columbus has tied last year’s record number of homicides for the second time in a month.
The official number of homicides in 2020 was revised upward on Nov. 19 from 175 to 177 when police added three deaths resulting from incidents that occurred in 2020, but where the victim survived into 2021 and subtracted a death later reclassified by the Franklin County Coroner’s Office as a non-homicide, Division of Police spokesman Sgt. James Fuqua said.
The death that tied the revised record happened at approximately 9:27p.m. in the 4300 Block of Malin Drive West on the Northeast Side, where Derrick Samuels Jr. was shot to death, Sgt. Edward Powell III of the Homicide Unit said.
Samuels, 34, was taken to Riverside Methodist Hospital in critical condition and died there at 12:49 a.m. Tuesday.
Eric Washington died when he was shot while arguing with a woman in the 3500 block of Fremont Street on the West Side at approximately 3:49 p.m., Sgt. James Marable said.
Washington, 28, was taken to Doctor’s West Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 4:55 p.m.
At least one shot was fired during the argument, striking Washington and fatally wounding him, Marable said.
The female left the scene after the shooting, Marable said.
Anyone with information regarding these incidents is asked to call the Columbus Police Homicide Unit at 614-645-4730 or Central Ohio Crime Stoppers at 614-461-TIPS (8477).