COLUMBUS, Ohio — A wave of violence Saturday left four people dead in three separate shootings in different parts of Columbus, including a woman who appears to have been killed on the Far West Side by her husband who then turned the gun on himself.
Columbus homicide detectives are also investigating the circumstances that led to a body being discovered Saturday morning in the Scioto River on the Northwest Side near Hilliard.
The deadly day is a continuation of a grisly year in Columbus punctuated by gun violence as the city is on track to surpass last year's historic level of killings.
As of Sunday, Columbus has reached 135 homicides in 2021. Last year, itself a record-setting year with 175 homicides, it wasn't until Oct. 25 that the 135th homicide was recorded. At this point in 2020, there had been 88 homicides.
The Columbus Division of Police's homicide unit has been able to solve about half of this year's killings. Recently, leaders made divisional changes intended to reduce burnout and boost the homicide case clearance rate, including reallocating police vehicles for homicide detectives and altering the unit's work schedules.
Saturday's violence began when Columbus police were called before 9 a.m. to Shire Ridge Road East on a report of a body floating in the Scioto River about a half-mile south of Hayden Run Road.
Police found the body of a male, and medics with the Columbus Division of Fire responded to the scene and pronounced the man dead at 9:14 a.m. near Bellam Road, said Columbus Fire Battalion Chief Steve Martin.
It was not immediately clear how the man died or how he ended up in the river. Homicide detectives are handling the investigation.
The Franklin County Coroner's Office will conduct an autopsy to determine the cause and manner of the death of the man, whose name police are withholding from the public until his family has been notified.
Shortly before 2 p.m., a 50-year-old woman and her 56-year-old husband were both found shot dead inside their home on Winterberry Drive, west of Norton Road, near Galloway. Medics pronounced them both dead at 2:22 p.m., police said.
Homicide detectives determined that during a domestic dispute between the married couple, it appears the husband shot and killed his wife before taking his own life. Their identities have not been made publicly known until police have notified their family.
Around that same time, police were dispatched to an area on the West Side near the Hilltop on a report of a shooting, where they found a man fatally shot in the front yard of a home on the 700 block of South Highland Avenue near Mound Street. The man was rushed to OhioHealth Grant Medical Center, where he died shortly before 3 p.m.
Police say they have not been able to confirm his identity.
The final homicide on Saturday occurred late at night on the Near East Side near Mount Vernon.
Columbus police who were called to the 1400 block of Hildreth Avenue west of Taylor Avenue found a man with gunshot wounds who medics pronounced dead at 11:24 p.m. Homicide detectives say the shooting likely stemmed from a reported fight at the same location, and investigators are working to determine who was involved and what the fight was about.
The man who died has not been identified.
Three non-fatal shootings were also reported to Columbus police between Saturday night and early Sunday morning.
The first occurred after 7 p.m. at Innis and Sunbury roads near Innis Park on the Northeast Side. The 18-year-old male victim is expected to survive.
About three hours later, a 25-year-old female called police around 10 p.m. to report that she was shot at by occupants of a black Jeep Patriot in the area of Hidden Acres Court and Maize Road on the Northeast Side. Police reported finding shell casings in the road.
Minutes later, two men who were in the suspected Jeep, a 21-year-old and a 30-year-old, themselves arrived at OhioHealth Grant Medical Center to be treated for non-life-threatening gunshot wounds, police said.
The third shooting was reported shortly after 2 a.m. Sunday when a 17-year-old female was shot in a parking lot on Sullivant Avenue following what witnesses told police was an altercation. The girl is recovering at Mount Carmel East Hospital.
With the exception of the alleged murder/suicide, police have reported no arrests or the identities of possible suspects in any of the Saturday incidents.
