COLUMBUS, Ohio – Witnesses said Columbus police officers had no choice but to open fire on a gun-wielding man who had already killed two people in a South Side parking lot Wednesday afternoon.
UPDATE: The Division of Police identified personnel involved in the shooting as Sgt. Trent Taylor and Officers Brian Newsome and Samuel Peck.
Roy Harvison fatally shot his estranged wife and her brother in the parking lot at Parsons Avenue and E. Kossuth Street, police spokesman Sgt. Richard Weiner said.
Two plainclothes sergeants assigned to the division’s property room were driving in the area when they heard the gunshots and saw Harvison shooting Donnell McDonald, Weiner said.
The two got out of their vehicle and confronted Harvison along with backup officers who arrived shortly afterward. Weiner says the two officers and one of the sergeants fired at Harvison, wounding him.
Witnesses told 10-TV Harvison refused to drop his weapon when he was ordered to and left officers no choice but to use their weapons. They said they believed th officers did the right thing.
The victims, identified as Harvison’s wife, Jenea, 29, and Donell McDonald, were pronounced dead at the scene by Columbus Fire medics.
Harvison, 24, was listed in stable condition at Grant Medical Center and has been charged with two counts of murder, Weiner said.
The incident is still under investigation by the Division of Police Critical Incident Response Team, Weiner said.
This article has been revised add the names of the police personnel involved and to correct the suspect’s age.