Man shot in botched robbery attempt dies
A 27-year-old Hilltop resident became the city’s 13th homicide after a botched robbery.
Rusty Oehlers was hospitalized on Feb. 20 after he was shot on South Hague Avenue just after 2:15 a.m. He died the next day, Columbus police said.
His mother, Dolly Oehlers, told The Dispatch that he had expected to start a new job on Monday.
“He was just a great kid,” she said. “He had a big heart.”
Rusty Oehlers graduated from Fairfield Union High School, where he played sports. He tried college for a semester, but decided it wasn’t for him. He loved cooking, his mom said and he worked in restaurants over the years as a chef. One of five children, he enjoyed dancing.
Oehlers also was the father of a 17-month-old son. His marriage of two years came to an end last month when his divorce was finalized.
Court records show Oehlers was placed on community control last year after he was convicted of theft and safe cracking, a fourth-degree felony. He had snatched a cash box from a Girl Scout troop outside a Canal Winchester Wal-Mart on March 6, 2016. The box held more than $600 in cash.
As part of his July 2016 sentence, Oehlers was told to undergo drug treatment, get a job and repay the Girl Scouts. He also was placed on community control for three years “under intense supervision” because of a chemical dependency.
But according to court records filed this month, Oehlers failed to check in with his probation officer on Dec. 20. An arrest warrant was issued Feb. 13.
Oehlers, who grew up in Fairfield County, leased a duplex on the Hilltop not far from where he was shot. Two women who were at the duplex drove him and 30-year-old Adam Havens to Mount Carmel West hospital after they were shot on Feb. 20.
Havens, who is expected to recover from his injuries, told police they were going to buy cigarettes at a United Dairy Farmers on South Hague Avenue when they were robbed by two men.
He told police that the two men ordered them to empty their pockets. There was a struggle and Havens was shot in the shoulder. Oehlers was shot at least once in the torso.
The two ran several blocks before Oehlers collapsed in the backyard of his duplex.
Anyone with information can contact Columbus Homicide Unit at 614-645-4730.