COLUMBUS – A man is in custody in connection with a double-shooting that left his 1-year-old daughter dead and her mother injured.
The incident was one of two fatal shootings within a few hours, which raised the murder toll in Columbus in 2021 to 114.
Police say William Roberts, 28, shot Emily Fletcher and her infant girl at a home on Sarin Drive on the Far North Side at approximately 9:26 p.m.
Officers dispatched to the area of Lazelle Road and Worthington Galena Road on the shooting report found Fletcher, 35, and the baby both suffering from gunshot wounds, according to Sgt. Edward Powell III of the Columbus police Homicide Unit.
The infant died later at Mount Carmel St. Ann’s Hospital, the 113th homicide victim of the year in the city, and Fletcher was listed in stable condition at OhioHealth Riverside Methodist Hospital, Powell said.
After the shooting, Roberts reportedly forced Fletcher and the baby into a vehicle and fled the area but was involved in an accident, Powell said.
He carjacked a vehicle from a witness who stopped to help, crashed that vehicle and tried to carjack another when Powell says he was arrested.
The incident happened about two hours after a 30-year-old man was gunned down during an argument on a Hilltop street, Sgt. James Marable said.
Officers called to the area of Columbian Avenue and Sullivant Avenue at 7:34 p.m. on a report of a shooting found Billy Sanders in the 400 block of Columbian Avenue, suffering from an apparent gunshot wound, Marable said.
He was taken to Ohio Health Grant Medical Center in critical condition and died at 1:19 a.m.
The investigation revealed that Sanders and an unidentified male were arguing when a shot was fired, fatally wounding Sanders.
After firing the shot, Marable says the unidentified male fled the scene.
This was the 114th homicide of the year in Columbus.
Anyone with information regarding the incident is asked to call Columbus Police Homicide Unit at 614-645-4730 or Central Ohio Crime Stoppers at 614-461-TIPS (8477).