COLUMBUS – Police say no one called to report gunfire when a man was fatally shot in a Driving Park alley early Monday.
It took police officers on routine patrol to find Michael Blankenship lying behind a home in the 900 block of 954 Geers Avenue at 12:33 a.m., about a block away from where he had been shot a half hour earlier, said Sgt. Jeff Strayer, Homicide Unit third shift supervisor.
Columbus fire personnel pronounced Blankenship, 29, dead at the scene.
Investigators determined that Blankenship was shot close to Seymour Avenue and Denton Alley before making his way to where he was found and Strayers says, though neighbors recalled hearing gunfire just after midnight, no one called the police.
There is currently no known motive for the shooting and no known suspects. The investigation continues.
This is the 65th homicide in Columbus this year.
Anyone with information regarding the incident, is asked to call the Columbus Police Homicide Unit at 614-645-4730 or Central Ohio Crime Stoppers at 614-461-TIPS.