3 dead, 1 injured in related shootings

CHILLICOTHE — Terri Young considered her home on gravel-lined Bowman Lane a peaceful refuge from the big cities. But in the past two days, fear has replaced her serenity.

She had a loaded .22-caliber handgun with her Tuesday, following the grim discovery Monday afternoon of a man and woman shot dead at their home at the end of the lane.

“Yes, we’re terrified,” she said of those in her neighborhood. “I had to pack a gun to walk my daughter to the bus stop.”

A third person died Tuesday, following what the Ross County sheriff’s office said were two separate but related shootings Monday along two rural roads in Liberty Township, east of this county seat city.

Ross County Sheriff George W. Lavender Jr. identified the dead as Thomas Steven Littler, 63, and and his fiancee, Leann Marie Potts, 46, who died in their home on Bowman Lane.

Rick Adams, 50, died Tuesday afternoon at Ohiohealth Grant Medical Center in Columbus, where he and an unidentified woman were taken by ambulance after they were shot at a mobile home on the 4500 block of Vigo Road near Londonderry. The woman’s condition was not released.

Authorities have executed “multiple search warrants,” but the sheriff’s office said an assailant was still at large Tuesday evening and no arrests had been made. In addition to the sheriff’s office, the U.S. 23 Major Crimes

Task Force and the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation are assisting in the investigation.

Ross County deputies responded first about 4 p.m. Monday to the Vigo Road address where Adams and the unidentified woman were found inside a mobile home.

As they worked that crime scene, deputies were made aware of a double shooting about 5 miles away on Bowman Lane, where they found Littler and Potts dead of apparent gunshot wounds. The home, surrounded by pine trees, was being guarded Tuesday by a deputy. Officials have said the two homicide scenes are connected, but won’t say how.

Littler and Potts had been planning a wedding and a Caribbean trip, neighbors and friends said. Potts had moved in with Littler, and according to her Facebook page, she had been given a $5,000 engagement ring. A Ross County deputy guards the site of a double shooting on Vigo Road in Ross County. About 5 miles away, two other victims were found dead in a related shooting on Bowman Lane.

The couple applied for a marriage license last month, according to county records.

A close acquaintance of the couple who didn’t want to be named out of respect for their tragedy said the relationship was “somewhat impulsive,” but working.

“Their intentions were very genuine and they were looking forward to marriage,” he said.

Residents say they are watching their backs, keeping their guns close and hoping for an arrest.

Young said she knew

her neighbor Littler only as Tom.

“He used to mow the shared grass along the road,” she said. “They are nice, quiet neighbors.”

Ronald Mingus, 67, lived next to Littler and often visited to bring tomatoes or share a beer or two.

“I couldn’t ask for a better friend,” he said. “We took care of each other.”

“He liked working to keep busy,” Mingus said of Littler, who had a maintenance job in the Columbus area. “He

sometimes worked six, seven days a week.”

“He was like a gentle giant,” Mingus said. “He was a great guy.”

Mingus said his friend had grown children and a recently deceased wife.

A man who works at a nearby Liberty Township garage said he thinks he confronted the assailant early Tuesday.

“I just seen the dogs carrying on,” said the man who didn’t want to be named, fearing retaliation. “I went to the backyard and all I could see was his head. Then he stood up to leave.

“He had like a camo outfit on him. I just knew something bad had happened.”

The man called

911 and reported the incident.