COLUMBUS – At least 13 people in Ohio were killed in shootings between Friday and Monday afternoon, prompting Gov. Mike DeWine to again call on lawmakers to approve tighter gun restrictions.
UPDATE 5/25/21 4:05 p.m.: West Jefferson police have released the names of the victims in the shooting there.
The total includes four people each in West Jefferson and Columbus, three in Youngstown and two in Morrow County. Two of the Columbus victims were 16 years old.
In response to a reporter’s questions at his regular COVID-19 pandemic briefing Monday, DeWine again called on the General Assembly to pass legislation that would allow judges to impose stricter sentences on convicted felons who are caught with illegal firearms in violation of existing state laws.
“They were told: ‘You cannot own a gun,’ and so if these repeat violent offenders are found in possession of a gun, we should be able to throw the book at them,” DeWine said.
The legislation, which was one of several bills introduced in the wake of the mass shooting in Dayton in 2019.
The death toll in Ohio increased by seven on Monday alone with fatal shooting incidents in West Jefferson, Morrow County and on the West Side of Columbus.
Three men and a woman were found dead at a duplex in West Jefferson Monday afternoon following an apparent shooting, according to media reports.
The Columbus Dispatch and WBNS 10-TV report that authorities responding to the scene on Jackson Street at about 5:30 p.m. found three gunshot victims inside the building and one outside.
The victims were identified as Andrew Swindall, 45, who kived at the address; Shawn Wright 45, and Leon Daniels, 38, both of London, and Jamie Lavender, 30, of Springfield.
There was no information available on any suspects.
The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation and the Madison County Sheriff’s office are assisting West Jefferson police.
A man was taken into custody in Columbus Monday night after the Morrow County Sheriff’s Office said he was wanted for questioning in two shootings that left two people dead and two people injured, WBNS 10-TV reported.
Columbus police and Ohio State Highway Patrol troopers arrested Brian Lee in connection with the shootings of a man and a woman in Morrow County. Sheriff John Hinton said the shootings happened on Monday around 4:25 a.m. in Harmony Township.
Columbus police say a 16-year-old boy was killed in a double shooting that happened during a fight outside a Franklinton fast-food restaurant Monday night.
Officers dispatched to a shooting in front of the Burger King at 1450 W. Broad Street at 7:05 p.m. found Ty-Sean Finch, 14, suffering from a gunshot wound, Sgt. David Shimberg of the Columbus Homicide Unit said.
He died later at a hospital, the 79th homicide in Columbus this year.
Raymond Sims, 32, was injured and is expected to recover, Shimberg said.
The shooting took place just hours before three people were killed and three others were wounded outside a bar in Youngstown.
Two other people were killed in separate shooting incidents Friday and Saturday.
A 17-year-old girl was shot in the legs and a 20-year-old man suffered multiple wounds in a double shooting in the 300 block of Wespot Drive in the Mount Vernon area just after 11:00 p.m. Monday.