COLUMBUS – The number of homicides in Columbus in 2020 is closing in on 100 after at least four people were killed in shooting incidents in less than 24 hours.
Gov. Mike DeWine addressed the rise in gun violence statewide in his regular coronavirus briefing Tuesday, again calling on lawmakers to pass legislation allowing judges to impose stricter sentences on repeat violent offenders who commit crimes with guns when they are prohibited from possessing them.
“You can talk to any chief of police in Ohio, they will tell you — particularly the bigger cities — that this is a problem and we have to go after those individuals,” DeWine said.
Two people were shot to death in in the parking lot of the Cross Key Apartments on Chatterton Drive near Refugee Road and Noe Bixby Road around 11:30 p.m. Tuesday, according to a tweet from the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office.
The FCSO is investigating a double homicide after two people were shot and killed on the southeast side. It happened just before midnight near Chatterton Dr and Refugee Rd. If you have any information about this crime, please contact FCSO investigators at 614-525-3351 @OHFCSO pic.twitter.com/r7JasU4Jce
— Franklin County Sheriff’s Office (@OHFCSO) September 2, 2020
The names have not been released, and a motive for the shooting remains under investigation.
No other injuries were reported in the incident, and it wasn’t clear how many shooters may have been involved or what kind of weapon was used.
The incident occurred outside the jurisdiction of the Columbus Division of Police so was not included in the agency’s tabulation of murders, which reached 96, well ahead of the record pace set in 2017.
The city saw two murders earlier in the day and police did not name suspects in either crime.
A man was killed inside a car by a drive-by shooter in the 800 block of Wellington Boulevard on the Northeast Side just before 10:25 a.m., according to Sgt. Eric Pilya of the Homicide Unit.
Officers found Michael Fair Jr., 25, inside a Ford Fusion where several witnesses reported he had been shot by someone in a full-size black pickup truck. Pilya says the driver of the truck was described as a younger black male with a thin build, short, wavy dark hair and a dark complexion.
Officers respond to a reported shooting on Allendale Drive on the East at approximately 1:55 p.m. found 21-year-old Elijah Lowe lying in front of the home, where he was pronounced dead.
Witnesses suspect a black male in a hoodie fired multiple gunshots from inside the home, hitting Lowe, and then ran out the back.
Both investigations are still ongoing, Pilya said.