COLUMBUS, Ohio – A wild shootout involving more than a half-dozen Columbus police officers and a homicide suspect ended with the suspect and another person dead near a Clintonville intersection early Wednesday morning.
-This article has been iupdated to include the names of the suspects and some of the officers involved.
Emanuel Gatewood and Kourtney Hahn were shot to death after a pursuit and running gun battle along several city streets that ended with seven police officers exchanging gunfire with them near the intersection of N. High Street and North Broadway at 5:20 a.m., police spokesman Sgt. Rich Weiner said.
“This went on for more than a couple of seconds. This was a real gun battle,” Weiner said.
Gatewood, 34, and Hahn, 21, were pronounced dead at the scene by fire personnel from Columbus Division of Fire Station 19, only a few yards away from the scene. Weiner said.
Two officers injured by flying glass as the suspect fired at their cruiser during the pursuit drove themselves to Riverside Methodist Hospital where their injuries were described as not serious, Weiner said.
“There were bullets that were going through the windshield toward the officers and they were hit with glass fragments which, in and of themselves, can be deadly,” Weiner said.
Gatewood was wanted for questioning in connection with the slaying of Lance Glenn outside the Body Shop after-hours club at E. Hudson Street and Howey Road on April 5, Weiner said.
The incident began when patrol officers Ty Stoneking and Daniel Wolfe spotted an SUV answering the description of one sought in connection with the April homicide, Weiner said.
When the officers attempted to stop the vehicle, the occupants began shooting and fled to Brighton and Hennepin Avenue, where officers tried to bring the vehicle to a stop but were met with gunfire, Weiner said.
The pursuit ended on N. High Street between Torrence and Dunedin Roads, where the suspects opened fire on several officers who returned fire, killing them both, Weiner said.
A handgun and a weapon similar to a TEC-9 or MAC-10, automatic machine pistols capable of holding “high-capacity magazines,” were found in the vehicle, Weiner said.
Weiner says, in addition to the seven officers who fired their weapons, Weiner says 11 officers and five firefighters witnessed the shooting, which remained under investigation.