COLUMBUS – A Columbus man has pleaded guilty in federal court to his role in a robbery spree that ended in the July 6 shooting of a Columbus police officer during an exchange of gunfire on a downtown interstate.
Faisal Darod was one of the three men who stole a Porsche SUV from a Whitehall car dealership and drove it to the Far West Side where they robbed a bank and led police on a freeway chase that ended in the shootout, which left one of the suspects dead.
As part of the plea agreement, a sentence of 20 to 30 years in prison was recommended.
Darod, 23, pleaded guilty to all nine counts charged against him in a September indictment, including aiding and abetting robberies and aiding and abetting the use of a firearm during the robberies, according to a release from the office of U.S Attorney Kenneth Parker.
Aden Abdullahi Jama, 20, of Reynoldsburg, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court on Oct. 11 in connection to the same series of crimes.
Darod took part in the robbery of a GameStop store on Hilliard-Rome Road in Hilliard on June 21 after he and another man found the bank they planned to rob had closed, Parker said.
On July 3, Darod drove the other man to the Auto Gallery on Westerville Road in Minerva Park, where the man robbed the car dealership owner at gunpoint, stealing a 2016 Corvette Stingray.
Darod arranged for Jama to pick up him and another individual after they robbed at gunpoint the Fifth Third Bank on Fishinger Road in Upper Arlington on July 5.
The following day, Darod took part in the armed robbery of the Byers Imports auto dealership in Whitehall, where he and Jama and a third person stole a Porsche Cayenne, which they drove to Hilliard to commit another armed bank holdup.
After robbing the Fifth Third Bank on Hilliard-Rome Road, the three led Columbus police officers on a chase on I-70 eastbound toward downtown, reaching speeds more than 125 miles per hour, before the car crashed and the driver was killed in an exchange of gunfire with police, where the officer was injured.
Darod and Jama ran away and Daron was arrested later at his home in Columbus while authorities caught up with Jama at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago where he was attempting to flee the country.