Police: 4 people charged in 2 homicides
Columbus police have identified four homicide suspects — two each in separate, unrelated homicides — as they continue to investigate a Tuesday night stabbing that left a 14-year-old dead.
All four suspects are under the age of 21, and two suspects in one of the cases are juveniles.
In addition, a second suspect has been arrested in the shooting death of an imam.
Around 11 p.m. Tuesday, Columbus police were called to Ogden Avenue in the Hilltop neighborhood on a report of a stabbing.
According to police, 14-year-old Martaires Taylor was involved in an “ongoing dispute” with a group of juveniles and was confronting one or more individuals when the stabbing occurred.
Taylor was rushed to Nationwide Children’s Hospital in critical condition, but police said he died from his injuries at 12:10 a.m. Wednesday.
Police have not identified any suspects in Thomas’ case, but are actively searching for four other homicide suspects.
Baron Anderson, 16, and Terrell D. Hicks-freeman, 15, have both been charged with two delinquency counts of murder in relation to a June 3 Northeast Side double homicide, according to police.
Officers and medics responded about 11 p.m. June 3 to North Hamilton and Warner roads for a report of a shooting, according to police. There they found Mahky Andrews, 15, in a vehicle with an apparent gunshot wound. Columbus Fire medics pronounced him dead at 11:14 p.m.
Police found a second victim, Layton Ridgedell, 18, lying in a parking lot in the 5600 block of Caledonia Road, where detectives believe the shooting happened. Medics pronounced him dead at 11:27 p.m.
Police have issued arrest warrants for both Anderson and Hicks-freeman.
Homicide detectives have also identified two suspects in a 2021 homicide.
Tahir Said, 20, and Hanut Abdulle, 19, have both been charged with murder in connection with the fatal shooting of 24-year-old Bryce Persang last September.
According to court records filed by homicide detectives, Persang had gone to the 5500 block of Floral Circle South on Columbus’ Far West Side to meet with Said and Abdulle. Persang was sitting in the driver’s seat of a Honda FIT and began talking with the two men about purchasing marijuana.
Detectives say either Said or Abdulle saw a bag of marijuana in Persang’s vehicle and pointed at it, saying, “Let me have that.” Persang reportedly refused, leading Abdulle to pull out a handgun and shooti Persang, who was found in the passenger seat of the vehicle, court records state.
Persang was taken by Prairie Township fire medics to an area hospital, where he died from his injuries.
Said, whose last known address was on Country Ridge Road, and Abdulle, whose last known address was Shady Meadows Drive, fled on foot through the apartment complex. Both remained at-large as of mid-afternoon Wednesday.
Anyone with information on the whereabouts of any of the four suspects in these two homicides is asked to call city homicide detectives at 614-6454730 or Central Ohio Crime Stoppers at 614-461-TIPS.
To date in 2022, Columbus police have identified five other homicide suspects who are 18 or younger, including a 15-year-old girl charged with delinquency murder in the May 24 shooting death of a man she apparently didn’t know on a Hilltop street.
In 2021, there were 22 people who were 18 or younger identified as suspects in homicide cases, according to records from Columbus police.
On Tuesday, Columbus police also arrested a second suspect in connection with the homicide of a beloved Imam and member of the Muslim and Somali communities in the area.
Isaiah Brown-miller, 22, of the Northeast Side, is being held in the Franklin County jail in connection with the Dec. 24 death of Mohamed Hassan Adam, an Imam in Columbus.
Adam was last seen leaving to pick up his child in a van. His body was found inside that van on Christmas Eve in a parking lot on the 1400 block of Windsor Avenue in North Linden.
Columbus police have said they believe Adam’s death was the result of a robbery and kidnapping. Brown-miller is facing murder charges along with John Wooden, 46. Wooden was arrested earlier this year and is awaiting trial on a number of charges, including aggravated murder, kidnapping and aggravated robbery.
Anyone with information regarding any homicide is asked to call Columbus Police Homicide Unit at (614) 645-4730 or Central Ohio Crime Stoppers at (614) 461-TIPS (8477). Cbehrens@dispatch.com bbruner@dispatch.com @bethany_bruner