Killer had been told to stay away, victim’s mom says

The mother of a Columbus woman killed in an apparent murdersuicide told a police dispatcher that her daughter was trapped inside a Far East Side apartment with a man who had a history of abusing her.

“I think he’s knocked my daughter out,” the woman said Wednesday in the 911 call recording. “There’s a baby in there and he won’t let me in.”

The woman called 911 at 5:21 p.m., police records show. Columbus police arrived at her daughter’s apartment on the 4700 block of Timberwood Drive nearly 13 minutes later and forced their way into the apartment, dispatch logs state.

Inside, they found the bodies of Mariah Carpenter, 24, and Quantaine Tate, 34. Both had apparent gunshot wounds and were pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

Investigators believe Tate fatally shot Carpenter and then killed himself, though the incident remains under investigation. Police found Tate and Carpenter's 2-yearold son in the apartment unharmed. The child is with other family members, police said.

Carpenter’s mother contacted police after overhearing her daughter argue with Tate over the phone in Carpenter’s apartment, dispatch logs state.

“She was hollering at him, telling him to leave and he wouldn’t leave,” the woman told the dispatcher.

Carpenter's mother told the dispatcher that she then heard the phone drop and her daughter stopped talking.

Both Tate and Carpenter were likely to be armed, and Carpenter had a conceal-carry permit, the woman told the 911 dispatcher.

Two years ago, when Carpenter was nine months pregnant with Tate’s child, Tate kidnapped her and forced a standoff with a SWAT team, the victim’s mother said.

Tate grabbed Carpenter by the throat on March 9, 2016, and forced her into the bedroom of an apartment on the 200 block of North Southhampton Avenue. He showed her a handgun and threatened to kill her, according to Franklin County Municipal Court records. When police arrived, he slammed a door shut on a police officer and then barricaded himself in the apartment, records show.

Tate surrendered following a standoff and was charged with kidnapping, having a weapon under disability and assaulting a police officer. The first two charges were dismissed and Tate pleaded guilty to assault and was sentenced to six months probation.

Tate also was known to confront and harass Carpenter at her home, forcing Carpenter to move, the woman’s mother said.

His most recent arrest on domestic violence charges was on Feb. 14, 2017, when he choked Carpenter in an apartment in the 5600 block of Navigator Drive and threw her on the ground, according to court records. He was sentenced to 131 days in jail and two years of probation in that incident.

Tate also had been ordered to stay away from Carpenter, her mother told the dispatcher.