COLUMBUS (AP) — Authorities say at least one more person is being sought following the arrest of a suspect in the shooting death of a Columbus religious leader last year.
Mohamed Hassan Adam, a longtime imam at Masjid Abu Hurairah mosque on the Northeast Side, was found dead of multiple gunshots in a van on Dec. 24.
He had gone missing two days earlier.
Police said a suspect was arrested and later charged with murder after ballistics test linked a gun found in his house to the slaying.
The lead investigator says he believes at least one more person and perhaps more were involved, and the investigation is not over.
Two weekend homicides under investigation
Two men were shot to death in separate incidents in Columbus over the weekend.
A 41-year-old man was shot inside a vehicle which crashed at an East Side intersection Friday afternoon.
Dalin Green was found suffering from a gunshot wound inside the vehicle after it crashed in the area of Sweet Basil Drive and Tarragon Way by officers responding to a report of shots fired at 2:39 p.m. Friday, Sgt. David Shimberg of the Columbus police Homicide Unit said.
Green was pronounced dead by Whitehall paramedics. A 34-year-old woman in the vehicle with Green was uninjured, Shimberg said.
UPDATE 3/2/22 6:41 a.m.: Police say Randy Cooper, 22, turned himself in at the Franklin County Jail and is facing a murder charge in connection with the death of Dalin Green.
Officers dispatched to the 1900 Block of Oakland Park Avenue at approximately 11:14 a.m. on a report of a deceased man in the back yard found Floyd Bacon, 34, suffering from an apparent gunshot wound, Sgt. Edward Powell III said.
Bacon was pronounced dead at the scene, he said.
These were the 17th and 18th homicides of 2022 in Columbus, police said.
Anyone with information regarding these incidents is asked to call Columbus Police Homicide Unit at 614-645-4730 or Central Ohio Crime Stoppers at 614-461-TIPS (8477).