Columbus adds four more homicides
Death toll up by 7 since Saturday afternoon
Columbus police are investigating a double homicide Monday at a North Side apartment complex and two separate homicides Tuesday that have helped raise the city’s death toll by seven since Saturday afternoon.
The bodies of a man and a woman were found Monday afternoon inside an apartment near Route 161 on the North Side and detectives are investigating their deaths as homicides.
A manager at the East Worthington Village Apartments, located in the 800 block of East Dublin-granville Road east of Sinclair Road, called city police around 12:30 p.m. after finding a female resident unresponsive inside an apartment. The manager had entered the residence because the woman was delinquent on rent, according to police.
When police arrived, they found not only the woman, but also a man unresponsive in the bedroom. Columbus medics pronounced both the man and the woman dead at the scene.
Police identified the woman as 40
year-old Christine Antoline. The man has not been publicly identified because his family has not yet been notified of his death, police said Tuesday.
It was not immediately clear how the two victims died, but police are investigating both deaths as homicides. Police have not publicly identified any suspects.
Early Tuesday morning, police were called to the Hartford on the Lake apartment complex, located near Lakeside Street and Shore Boulevard, on a report of a male down in the parking lot. The man was found with multiple gunshot wounds, and medics pronounced him dead shortly after 2:30 a.m.
The man was identified as 55-yearold William Harris, of the East Side.
Around 1 p.m. Tuesday afternoon, a man was found unresponsive in an alley in the King-lincoln district near Miami Avenue and East Spring Street. The man was pronounced dead at the scene. Additional details about the case, including the man’s name, were not immediately available.
Following the four most recent deaths, seven people have been killed since Saturday as homicides continue to occur on a record-setting pace. Three of those homicides occurred within about 11 hours on Saturday in different parts of Columbus.
The city has reached 139 homicides this year as of Tuesday afternoon. It’s a figure not reached until Oct. 31 in 2020, a year in which a record 175 people were killed in Columbus. At this time last year, 91 homicides had been recorded in the city.
On Monday afternoon, Columbus police identified 50-year-old Deborah Butler as one of those Saturday homicide victims.
Deborah Butler and her husband 56year-old Anthony Butler were both found shot dead around 2 p.m. Saturday inside their Far West Side home on Winterberry Drive, west of Norton Road, near Galloway. Homicide detectives determined that during a domestic dispute between the married couple, it appears Anthony Butler shot and killed his wife before turning the gun on himself.
Police on Monday also were called to investigate at least four non-fatal shootings in which the victims are expected to survive.
The first occurred around 1 p.m. Monday when officers were called to the area of Georges Creek Drive and Gender Road on the Southeast Side. Police found a 19year-old with multiple gunshot wounds and later arrested another 19-year-old suspect who they charged with felonious assault.
About a half-hour later, a man was shot on the 900 block of Geers Avenue in Driving Park. That man was found near a car that police believe he was inside when he was shot before he crawled out to seek help.
Three hours later, a juvenile was shot multiple times around 4:30 p.m. on the 5600 block of Celtic Sea Lane, also on the Southeast Side. No suspects have been identified in that case.
In the final non-fatal shooting reported Monday, a 27-year-old woman was shot around 8:30 p.m. on the 1100 block of East 18th Avenue in South Linden.
According to police, the woman was sitting on a porch when shots were fired into a crowd and was struck by gunfire as she attempted to run away while carrying her child, who was not injured. A 15year-old suspect has been arrested in that case.
Anyone with information can call the Columbus Division of Police homicide unit at 614-645-4730 or report an anonymous tip to the Central Ohio Crime Stoppers at 614-461-8477.
Dispatch Reporter Bethany Bruner contributed to this story.
Eric Lagatta is a reporter at the Columbus Dispatch covering public safety, breaking news and social justice issues. Reach him at elagatta@dispatch.com. Follow him on Twitter @Ericlagatta