Man dies after multiple shots fi red on South Side

A man shot in a parking lot Wednesday night next to a pizza bar on the South Side has died, Columbus police said.

The victim was struck by multiple shots fired about 7:50 p.m. Wednesday in a parking lot between Dawghouse Pizza & Bar and a one-story commercial building on the 2000 block of Lockbourne Road, said Sgt. Stan Latta, supervisor of the second-shift homicide squad.

The victim staggered about 40 yards from behind the block building to a spot near the intersection of Lockbourne and Reeb Avenue, where he collapsed, police Lt. Lowell Rector said.

Officers and Columbus fire paramedics responding to 911 calls at 7:52 p.m. found the downed man. He was taken to OhioHealth Grant Medical Center, where he was later pronounced dead, Rector said.

The homicide is the city’s 135th of 2017, and the second of the day in his patrol area, Rector said.

“It’s not a race,” Rector said of the city’s homicide rate. “It’s sad and it’s deadly.”

Columbus had gone one week without a homicide since two on Dec. 13. The highest number of homicides in the city in one year was 139 in 1991.

Police radio traffic indicated officers were searching for a car with four males seen speeding north from the shooting scene. At least five cones marking shell casings were visible in the parking lot area.

Homicide investigators remained on the scene late Wednesday night.