Man arrested in fatal shooting
A woman sobbed and wailed as she called 911 after a shooting Wednesday in a Near East Side apartment complex.
“Somebody just shot my boyfriend,” the woman said.
In a matter of hours, the man lying on the floor, 33-year-old Jermaine Wooden, would be dead.
She told the dispatcher she knew the shooter.
“Yes, I want to help him,” she said. “Oh, God.”
Columbus police said the woman’s ex-boyfriend, 27-year-old Tyrell Williams, with whom she shares a child, was angered when he was asked to leave her residence in the 1900 block of Maryland Avenue at the Nelson Park Apartments. Williams is accused of pulling a handgun from his waistband and shooting Wooden multiple times shortly before the 911 call at 6:23 a.m., according to court records.
Wooden was initially taken to University Hospital East, then transferred to Ohio State University’s Wexner Medical Center, where he died at 8:29 a.m. The shooting was the city’s 18th homicide this year.
A few hours later, Williams was picked up by SWAT team members at a home on North Waverly Street less than 4 miles from the apartment complex.
Police had been called out to the same complex in April after Williams was accused of violating a protection order when he spoke to the woman’s children, who also were protected by the order. The charge was later dismissed.
Court records state that Williams showed the woman a revolver in a separate incident and told her he was going to “smoke her.” In another case, he struck her multiple times, records show. He was convicted in those two cases.
The apartment complex, which was built in 1958, has more than 40 units and has a lengthy history of police calls. The complex is owned by NPA Associates, which is based in Beachwood, a suburb of Cleveland. David Orlean with The Orlean Co. is listed as the incorporator, state records show. No one from the company returned a message seeking comment Wednesday.
“It’s a lot” of police calls, said one resident who declined to give his name. “I try to stay in the house. There’s too much crazy stuff going on.”
A homicide occurred at the apartment complex in August: Antoine Bradley, 19, was shot and killed outdoors. Witnesses have been reluctant to come forward, and no arrest has been made.
Police call records show at least 73 shots-fired calls involving the complex in the past two years — including one Tuesday night.
Anyone with information about the shootings is asked to call Columbus police at 614-645-4730.