COLUMBUS – Columbus finished 2017 with a record number of homicides, blamed on the opioid epidemic and related gang rivalries and on the ready availability of guns.
At approximately 6:49 p.m. Saturday, Columbus police officers called to the Beverage Warehouse, 847 E. 11th Avenue, on a reported shooting found Richard Hodge Jr. inside of the entry door. Homicide Unit Sgt. Stanley Latta says the 27-year-old man had been shot and was in critical condition.
Columbus fire personnel took him to OSU Wexner Medical Center where he was pronounced dead at 7:23 p.m., the 143rd and final homicide victim of the deadliest year in Columbus history.
Latta says the incident is believed to have started outside of the entry door in the parking area. He says there were no suspects or motives at this time.
The 143 homicide in 2017 established a new record, eclipsing the previous high of 139, set in 1991 during the height of gang wars over a different kind of drug scourge: crack cocaine.
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Deaths by overdoses – mostly attributed to opiates such as heroin and fentanyl – were 9 percent higher during the first nine months of 2017 than in all of 2016, according to a report from the Franklin County Coroner’s Office, indicating that the opioid crisis had yet to peak.
Columbus police officials have also blamed the high number of homicides on poor relations between the Division of Police and city residents.