Woman fatally shot during gunfight in Mifflin Township

A woman riding as a passenger in a car was fatally shot during an exchange of gunfire on a Mifflin Township residential street last week, the Franklin County Sheriff’s office confirmed Monday night.

Ja’Kharia Morgan, 20, of Columbus, was pronounced dead at OhioHealth Riverside Methodist Hospital during the early-morning hours Wednesday, according to a search warrant at Franklin County Municipal Court. Her birthday was three days earlier.

A 22-year-old Columbus man transported Morgan to the hospital from the 2100 block of Myrtle Avenue, where the shooting is believed to have occurred, court records show.

That man is not believed to have been involved in shooting Morgan, who was a passenger inside his 2013 White Dodge Avenger, said Major Steve Tucker of the sheriff’s office. When medical staff removed Morgan from the car, there was blood on the front passenger seat, a search warrant states.

“I think she was ducking down when there was gunfire and still she got a bullet,” Tucker said. “It’s really a tragic case.”

No arrests have been made, and detectives are trying to sort out what exactly happened in the shooting around 1:10 a.m. Mifflin Township police and the sheriff’s office responded to a call of shots fired and discovered several fired MaxxTech 9mm Luger cartridge cases on the street, a search warrant states.

A short while later, the sheriff’s office learned that a critically wounded woman was brought to the hospital. The sheriff’s office obtained a search warrant for a house in the 2100 block of Myrtle Avenue.

In addition, a .40- caliber Smith & Wesson semiautomatic pistol and live ammunition were among the items taken from the man’s car, the warrant states.

Tucker said they have interviewed several people and believe that at least two people were firing guns.