Murder-suicide suspected on Far West Side

When Columbus police officers entered a Far West Side apartment unit early Wednesday evening, they found a woman and man dead with gunshot wounds and a 2-year-old toddler wandering unharmed.

Homicide detectives are calling the deaths an apparent murder-suicide.

The presumption is that the man shot the woman before killing himself, but detectives aren’t “absolutely positive” because it’s early in the investigation, said Sgt. Stan Latta, second-shift homicide unit’s supervisor. The child is with other family members, he said.

Columbus police were called at 5:21 p.m. by a woman who said she had been on the phone with her adult daughter and was concerned about the safety of her 2-year-old grandchild and her daughter because of discord between the latter and the father of the child. She asked police to conduct an immediate well-being check.

Residents also reported hearing gunshots from one of the units in the 4700 block of Timberwood Drive North at the Hidden Creek Apartments off Hall Road, Latta said.

The man and woman were found in a first-floor apartment and pronounced dead at 5:46 p.m. The relationship between the deceased was uncertain and needed to be verified, Latta said. Their identities weren’t being released yet.

Bella Flora, 38, watched across the parking lot outside her second-floor apartment in another building as police officers were combing the scene. She said she was in the kitchen when she heard two loud booms. Police officers minutes later descended on the apartment unit.

After officers entered the apartment, a red-haired boy wearing a diaper was brought out, Flora said.

“It’s very heartbreaking, my prayers are with them,” Flora said of the child, the grandmother and their family. “Only time can heal. ... I feel really sorry for the family and everything they are going through.”