COLUMBUS – The total number of homicides in Columbus this year increased to 60 as a violent weekend in central Ohio left three people dead and several others, including four juveniles, injured.
UPDATE 4/23/21 8:56 a.m.: Updates throughout with victim information
Two of the homicides occurred in the City of Columbus while the other happened in Truro Township, when someone opened fire on a vigil for the victim of one of the record 174 homicides in Columbus in 2020.
Officers responding to a report of a shooting in South Linden just before 1:50 a.m. Sunday found an unidentified man inside a vehicle in the alley south of E. 25th Avenue suffering from a gunshot wound, detectives with the Homicide Unit said.
The man was pronounced dead later at Grant Medical Center, the 59th homicide victim of the year.
The victim has been identified as Jamaal Dixon, 37.
An unidentified man was found shot to death inside a vehicle in the area of Sullivant Avenue and S. Richardson Avenue in the Hilltop just after 8:10 Sunday morning, police said.
Witnesses told police a silver car pulled alongside the vehicle the 59-year-old victim was driving and someone inside fired shots before the car drove away from the scene.
The victim has been identified as Gregorio Cruz.
This was the 60th homicide of the year in Columbus.
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).
Six men, three women and three juveniles were injured in nine separate shooting incidents over the weekend in Columbus.
A shooting in North Linden Friday afternoon sent a 20-year-old woman and a 4-year-old girl to the hospital with gunshot wounds.
Police say Jordan Gilbert, 21, followed Gariella McCrary as she and the child got into a vehicle with three other people and four other people drove away from the scene of an altercation on Beulah Road near Carolyn Avenue.
Gilbert allegedly fired multiple shots at the vehicle, striking McCrary and the child.
The vehicle drove away with the occupants searching for a hospital for the girl until they stopped near the intersection of E. Livingston Avenue and Linwood Avenue and called police. Both were listed in stable condition at local hospitals.
Gilbert faces felonious assault charges.
Other victims include a man and a woman injured in a drive-by shooting in the 1200 block of Arkwood Avenue on the East Side late Sunday night, a 13-year-old boy who was listed in critical condition after being shot when someone fired six gunshots into a house on Warren Avenue just before 2:00 a.m. Monday, and a 16-year-old boy who was hurt when someone in an Acura SUV fired shots into a house in the 2200 block of Kilbourne Avenue Saturday night.