Officer hospitalized, suspect charged

Columbus Police Officer Patrick Shrodes was shot in the hip Wednesday night as he burst through the front door of a Hilltop apartment under a warrant to search for drugs, police said Thursday.

Shrodes, 49, a 22-year veteran, has been an undercover narcotics investigator for most of his career. He was in stable condition at OhioHealth Grant Medical Center on Thursday.

“He’s in good spirits. He is going to be in the hospital for a while. It is a gunshot wound,” said Sgt. Rich Weiner.

“You never know what is on the other side of the door,” Weiner said of the danger of narcotics raids.

Shrodes is a member of the Narcotics Tactical Investigative Unit, which went to an apartment in a building on South Burgess Avenue just south of West Broad Street about 10:40 p.m. Wednesday. Using a no-knock warrant, the officers entered via the front and back doors, Weiner said.

After Shrodes was shot, he fired back at the gunman, who dropped his handgun, which was recovered as evidence.

Police later identified the gunman as 22-year-old Shawn Toney. Toney was taken to Mount Carmel West hospital for treatment of injuries suffered when officers were taking him into custody. He was being held Thursday in the Franklin County jail on a charge of felonious assault against a police officer, a first-degree felony.

One of the four other men in the apartment, 61-yearold Bernard Cannady, was struck by a bullet fragment during the exchange of gunfire. He also was taken to Mount Carmel West hospital, where he was treated and released, Weiner said.

It is unclear whether the bullet fragment that struck Cannady came from Shrodes’ gun or Toney’s gun. An investigation by the Police Division’s Critical Incident Response Team will determine that, Weiner said. Shrodes had not been interviewed as of late Thursday afternoon, Weiner said.

Weiner said Cannady and the three other men who had been in the apartment with Toney were interviewed.

Narcotics detectives returned to the Hilltop apartment Thursday to search it under the original warrant. Weiner said drugs were found, and other charges from that investigation could result.