Suspect in West Side shooting charged

Columbus Police were searching for a teenage suspect wanted in the fatal shooting Monday of a man on the West Side.

Police have obtained an arrest warrant for Michael Lee Meredith, who was 17 at the time of the slaying, on a delinquency count of murder charge in the shooting death of Jared M. Bentley, 24.

The whereabouts of Meredith, who turned 18 on Thursday, are unknown. He is presumed to be armed and dangerous, police said Friday.

Bentley was found mortally wounded in a parking lot at the Reserve at Parkwick apartment complex near Georgesville Road and I-270 on the West Side.

Bentley had driven to the apartment complex and was involved in an argument between two small groups, police said. A gunman fired several shots, striking Bentley.

Police said Bentley drove away but made it only a few hundred yards before he got out of the vehicle and collapsed, police said. Franklin Township Fire medics pronounced Bentley dead at 11:54 p.m. Monday.

Bentley was the city’s 104th homicide of 2017. Since then, Columbus recorded its 108th homicide for 2017 on Thursday, surpassing the 106 total for all of 2016.

Anyone with information regarding this incident may call the Columbus Police Homicide Unit at (614) 6454730 or Central Ohio Crime Stoppers at (614) 461-TIPS.