One woman dead, 5 injured in drive-by shooting
TRURO TWP. (FRANKLIN COUNTY) — A woman is dead and five other people were injured Saturday night at a shopping plaza southeast of Columbus in what appeared to be a drive-by shooting at people holding a memorial vigil for a homicide victim killed one year earlier at the same location.
LaToya Renee Carpenter, 32, was killed in Saturday’s shooting, according to 50-year-old Perez Williams, who identified himself to The Dispatch at the scene as the victim’s fiancé.
Carpenter was fatally struck by a stray bullet while driving a vehicle in the parking lot outside the Dollar General in the Refugee Center shopping plaza on Chatterton Road near Noe-Bixby Road in Truro Twp.
“I don’t know what to do. I can’t believe it. It’s just unbelievable,” Williams told The Dispatch after talking with investigators.
Columbus police Lt. Dan Hargus confirmed one person was pronounced dead at 7:50 p.m. and five others were injured in the shooting. One of the wounded was taken to Nationwide Children’s Hospital, two to Mount Carmel East hospital, and one to OhioHealth Pickerington.
All five injured were in stable condition, Hargus said.
The shooting
No information on the deceased or the other five was immediately available from the Franklin County Sheriff ’s investigators at the scene. Police from Columbus, Groveport and Madison Twp. responded to assist, along with the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation.
Investigators have also not released any information about a suspect.
Jacqueline Bailey, 67, who resides in the Cross Key Apartments across Chatterton Road from the shopping plaza, told The Dispatch that she was looking out her kitchen window as a group of people were holding a memorial vigil around 8 p.m. in the shopping plaza parking lot close to Chatterton Road.
The gathering was apparently held to mark the oneyear anniversary of the April 17, 2020 shooting death of 28-year-old Jarrin Hickman, of the Southeast Side, in what authorities said was a drug deal gone bad.
A large bunch of red, white and silver balloons were attached to a utility pole outside the Refugee Center shopping plaza along the side of Chatterton Road.
Bailey said someone in an SUV traveling westbound on Chatterton Road suddenly opened fire on the group gathered for the memorial vigil and drove off.
Carpenter had a short time earlier left the Cross Key Apartments where she and Williams resided and drove across the road to pick up some candy and potato chips at Dollar General, Williams told The Dispatch. She was then going to drive and pick up her 11-year-old daughter from Carpenter’s sister’s home down the road, he said.
Carpenter was in the parking lot when she was apparently struck by a stray bullet and killed, Williams said.
The vehicle was in drive and crashed into another vehicle in the parking lot after the driver was shot,
Bailey and another witness at a nearby restaurant said.
One of the wounded people went into the Dollar General store at 5001 Chatterton Road, which is where police were originally called to respond to the shooting.
A worker at My Big Fat Gyros restaurant, located next door to the Dollar General store, told The Dispatch that they heard gunfire and ducked behind the counter. When they looked out afterwards, he said, there was one person down in the parking lot outside the Dollar General and another person who appeared to have sustained a wound to the foot.
The worker, who did not wish to be identified, did not see any of the other people injured, but said he saw a vehicle in the parking lot crash into another vehicle.
Cones marking bullet casings were placed in the westbound lanes of Chatterton Road across the parking lot from the Dollar General and the neighboring Abe’s Banquet Hall.
Deputies closed Chatterton Road between Noe-Bixby Road and Falcon Bridge Drive for several hours during the investigation.
A shooting at plaza one year earlier
On April 17, 2020, Franklin County deputy sheriffs responded at about 6:30 p.m. to a report of a shooting in the Refugee Center shopping plaza parking lot. According to court records, the shootings occurred after a drug deal involving marijuana went bad.
Court records and Franklin County Chief Deputy Rick Minerd said 20-yearold Varmunyah Dunor of the Near East Side and his friend Quincy Yelder, 19, were involved in a marijuana transaction with 28-year-old Jarrin Hickman of the Southeast Side in Dunor’s vehicle.
Yelder, who was negotiating to purchase marijuana from Hickman and Dunor, shot Hickman. Hickman then shot Yelder in the head, court records state.
“Hickman got out of (Dunor’s car) and tried to run away,” court records state. ”(Dunor) grabbed (Yelder’s) gun and exited his vehicle and went towards Hickman.”
Court records said that Dunor fired at Hickman several times and struck him. Hickman was pronounced dead at the scene, Minerd said.
Dunor later admitted to his actions, court records said, and surveillance video captured the incident.
Dunor fled in his vehicle with Yelder inside, critically wounded.
Witnesses provided deputies with a vehicle description and a partial license-plate number that was aired over police radio for law enforcement, Minerd said.
Columbus police spotted the vehicle and, when it did not stop, followed it to Mount Carmel East hospital, where Yelder was rushed into surgery.
Dunor was arrested on a charge of murder, according to court records.