Man convicted of murder in fatal shooting outside bar
A Franklin County jury has convicted a Columbus man of murder for shooting a fleeing man in the back after arguing in an East Side bar parking lot.
But the jury could not reach a unanimous verdict on a murder charge against his codefendant, whom Columbus police said in court records also fired shots.
After a trial last week in Franklin County Common Pleas Court, the jury came back Monday and found 36-yearold Charles B. Williams, of the South Side, guilty of one of two counts of murder, tampering with evidence and other charges. The jury also found Williams not guilty of improperly discharging a firearm into a habitation.
The charges stem from the fatal shooting of 40-year-old Jeffrey Chandler on Oct. 22, 2022. Police also charged Lee Gill, 52, of Pickerington, and Dominic Elmore, 35, of the East Side.
The four men were in a verbal argument in the parking lot outside the Platform Lounge off Country Club Drive in the Benton’s Executive Office Suite, just south of East Main Street, according to Columbus police homicide detectives.
Gill and Elmore suddenly produced handguns and began firing into the vehicle Chandler was in, according to police records filed in Franklin County Municipal Court.
Williams is seen on surveillance video running to a vehicle, pulling out a rifle and also firing at Chandler. Getting out of his vehicle, Chandler fled a short distance before an “incapacitating gunshot” struck him, court records stated.
In an autopsy for the Franklin County Coroner’s Office, a pathologist found a bullet from a rifle in Chandler’s back, according to court records. But all three men shot at Chandler as he ran from the parking lot, according to police.
During the shooting, an errant gunshot traveled over a roadway and struck a house.
Gill was on trial with Williams for similar charges, but the jury could not reach a unanimous verdict on most of the charges, including murder and felonious assault. The jury did find Gill guilty of one count of tampering with evidence.
Franklin County prosecuting attorneys will have to decide whether to retry Gill for murder.
Gill’s attorney argued at trial that he acted in self-defense.
Williams is scheduled for sentencing on April 5. He faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison. Judge Kim Brown will decide when he is first eligible for parole.
Gill’s wife, Tracey Gill, is also charged with obstructing justice for allegedly lying to law enforcement about whether security cameras inside and outside the bar she owned were functional at the time of the shooting, according to court records.
Elmore, who police also initially charged with murder, was indicted for felonious assault by a county grand jury. Elmore pleaded guilty in June to two counts of assault as part of a plea agreement with prosecuting attorneys.
His defense attorneys and the prosecution recommended a sentence of probation. Judge Kimberly Cocroft sentenced Elmore to four years of community control.