COLUMBUS – Twice in less than 48 hours, Columbus SWAT officers shot robbery suspects during a sting aimed at capturing people who held up victims they lured by offering to buy or sell items via social media, the most recent a 16-year-oild boy shot fatally on the East Side Friday night.
SWAT officer Eric Richards, posing as a potential buyer or seller, met 16-year-old Julius Ervin Tate, Jr., in the area of N. Champion and Mt. Vernon Avenues just before 6:15 p.m. Friday to finalize the exchange while other SWAT officers provided cover for the decoy officer, police division spokeswoman Sgt. Chantay Boxill said.
When Tate allegedly pointed a gun at the decoy officer and robbed him, one of the cover officers shot Tate, who was transported to Grant Medical Center and pronounced dead there at 6:32p.m., Boxill said.
An 18-year-old suspect was critically wounded in a nearly identical incident Wednesday night.
No officers were injured.
Boxill says a gun was recovered at the scene.
Richards is a 28-year veteran of the division.