Two dead, 9 hurt in weekend shootings

Saga Communications

COLUMBUS – Eleven people were shot, two of them fatally, during another violent weekend in Columbus.

The two homicides raised the total for the city this year to 160.

A man died after being shot and crashing his vehicle at a North Side intersection early Saturday.

Officers dispatched to the area of W. 5th Avenue at Neil Avenue on a report of a shooting at approximately 1:36 a.m. found a vehicle that appeared to have crashed just east of the intersection.

A male in the vehicle was unresponsive and suffering from a gunshot wound. The officers pulled the man out of the vehicle to provide first aid, but Columbus paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene, Sgt. Edward Powell III of the Homicide Unit said.

The victim’s identity is unknown, Powell said.

Officers called to the 1400 block of Oak Street by residents who said they heard a gunshot found a man lying in the alley, Sgt. James Marable said. The man, whose name was not released pending notification of his family, died at the scene.

The circumstances that led to the shooting are still under investigation, Marable said.

Anyone with information regarding the incident is asked to call the Columbus Police Homicide Unit at 614-645-4730 or Central Ohio Crime Stoppers at 614-461-TIPS (8477).

Nine other people were injured in separate shooting incidents, including a 17-year-old who was shot on the East Side, and two 18-year-old women hit by broken glass when someone fired a dozen rounds at their vehicle following a traffic dispute in the Short North.