COLUMBUS – Columbus was not immune to a rash of shootings across the U.S. as the country celebrated the Fourth of July holiday.
A total of six incidents left one person dead and 10 others hurt, though Columbus police say reports of gunfire that sent people scrambling at the Red, White & Boom! fireworks display downtown Monday night were false.
The violence continued past the holiday with four people shot in the early hour of July 5, including a man who was killed when an argument erupted in gunfire just after midnight Wednesday, police said.
A 31-year-old man was killed and a 57-year-old was injured when shots were fired during a verbal dispute in the Short North, Sgt. Edward Powell III of the Homicide Unit said.
UPDATE 7/11/23 10:19 a.m.: The victims in the above incident have been identified as Roosevelt Carroll Jr., 57 and Roosevelt Carroll III, 31, police announced. They were killed in the 700 block of Kerr Street just after midnight on July 5.
Arrest warrants have been filed for Levander Davis, 25, and De’Andre Davis, 25, in connection with the shooting, Sgt. Edward Powell III of the Columbus police Homicide Unit said.
Officers recovered 52 spent shell casings at the scene of shooting near a Northeast Side park early Wednesday that left two men, age 18 and 27, injured, Sgt. Doug Jones of the Felony Assault Unit said.
A group had gathered at Sawyer Park to watch fireworks when shots were fired just before 1:20 a.m., Jones said.
The victims walked into OSU East Medical Center and Nationwide Children’s Hospital and were expected to survive their injuries, Jones said.
The outbreak of violence is spiking fears in communities across the nation and highlighting the challenges police face at preventing such violence as temperatures warm and festivities move outside.
Gun violence that flared this week in Washington, D.C.; Louisiana, Florida, Philadelphia, Texas and Baltimore left more than a dozen dead and almost 60 wounded, including children as young as 2 years old.