Shootout leaves two dead, two wounded

Tyler Hardin was with his girlfriend in their London apartment when they heard six to seven gunshots, sending the couple scrambling for cover around 11:30 p.m. Monday.

A shootout following a home invasion across the street left two men dead and two wounded.

Hardin, a resident of the Lamplight Court Apartments for just a couple of months, had friends in the apartment across the way and went to assist.

"I just walked outside and saw bodies on the ground and blood splatters," he recalled.

Zachary Edmond, 28, emerged from the house with a towel wrapped around his arm. Nobody else was moving.

So Hardin, 18, ushered Edmond into his girlfriend's car and drove him to the hospital.

London Police were called about the same time to the normally quiet apartments about a mile west of downtown London.

There, they found William Benson, 28, a resident, dead inside.

Edmond, Benson's roommate and longtime friend, was transferred from Madison Health hospital to Ohio State University's Wexner Medical Center, where he was initially reported in stable condition. A Wexner hospital spokeswoman said later Monday that no information was available about Edmond because he was not listed in their system.

One of the alleged assailants, Justin G. Coffey, 24, of 100 block of Liberty St. in London, was taken to OhioHealth Grant Medical Center, where he died.

The fourth victim, an alleged accomplice with Coffey who was not identified by police, was being treated at a Springfield hospital in Clark County.

London Police Chief Glenn Nicol said drug-related material was found in the apartment, leading detectives to believe the incident was retaliatory.

"It appears that they went into the residence (with weapons), and the resident had a weapon too," Nicol said. Most of the gunfire took place inside the single-floor building. He declined to say who shot whom or how many weapons were used.

The slayings are the first since 2009 in the city, which is Madison County's government seat.

"No community this size wants to see it," Nicol said. "But things like this can happen anywhere."

Hardin recalled a very fast trip to the hospital. "He was more panicky, because his friend was gone, and I was trying to reassure him that things were going to be OK."

London Police are being assisted by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation and the Madison County Sheriff's Office.Police are asking anyone with information to contact London Police at 740-852-7025.