Police investigate armed robberies in Short North
Armed with at least one handgun, the three assailants likely expected little resistance when they approached the married couple late on a Friday night in an area near Columbus’ Short
North and demanded their cellphones and wallets.
But one of their intended targets, a 44-year-old man, decided he wasn’t about to be robbed without putting up a fight. Columbus police say the man grappled with one of the suspects carrying a gun and successfully disarmed him, sending him and his co-conspirators fleeing east on 1st Avenue toward Dennison Avenue in Victorian Village. The area is just west of the Short North strip on High Street.
Once safe, the man and his 39-yearold wife, who live in the nearby Harrison West neighborhood on the city’s
North Side, retrieved their personal items and called 911 around 11 p.m. last Friday. Police responded and took the .32 caliber gun into evidence, as well as a mask used by one of the men to conceal his face.
Although the three suspects were foiled in this instance, it apparently did nothing to dissuade the emboldened teens or young men from going on to commit five more armed robberies in slightly less than a four-hour period around the Short North area.
Robbery detectives say they suspect that the same three males — some of whom could be teenagers — are behind a series of six armed robberies beginning at 11 p.m. last Friday and going into early Saturday morning.
The crime spree was the latest in what police say they have identified as a pattern of violent crime in the Short North and surrounding area committed by suspected “known associates” going back at least until mid-july, said Sgt.
Shaun Laird, of the robbery detective unit.
“We believe that in many of the robberies, there is a large group of young suspects who are committing a majority of them,” Laird said. “We’re looking at a pattern for the past month or so.”
As it has across much of Columbus and some other places in central Ohio, shootings and other violent crime has increased recently in the Short North area — a busy strip along High Street where shops and nightlife draws patrons from all over the city — as well as the University District to the north near the Ohio State University campus.
In July, the Short North was marred by two consecutive weekends of shootings outside bars that left seven people injured.
Since students began returning to campus for fall semester, Ohio State has issued a slew of safety alerts about violent crime in off-campus areas and even announced Aug. 27 an expansion of its security measures. Those measures include constructing additional light towers and installing more cameras along pedestrian pathways on campus, and beefing up off-campus security provided by the Community Crime Patrol and marked security vehicles.
The uptick in violent crime has community leaders in the Short North area banding together out of concern for the safety of residents, visitors and business owners. Although the city recently cracked down on riders recklessly driving dirt bikes and ATVS through city streets after residents complained, some neighborhood leaders don’t think city officials are doing enough.
“What was once an arts district has now turned into a big entertainment district where the city seems to be doing really little to enforce policies, legislation and city code,” said Bobby Thaxton, president of the Short North Civic Association. “It almost feels like it’s a playground now in the Short North where anything goes.”
The Short North Alliance announced that it is partnering with the Columbus Division of Police to launch a pilot program this weekend aimed at crime prevention, said Betsy Pandora, the organization’s executive director. Dubbed the Short North Crime Interdiction program, the initiative will provide a dedicated unit of police officers to engage in neighborhood patrols during evening and late-night hours throughout “several consecutive weeks,” Pandora said.
Additionally, the Short North Alliance has long operated the Short North Ambassador program that offers free escort services to patrons in the neighborhood and trains its ambassadors in de-escalation techniques for matters that aren’t immediately life-threatening. Individuals can request help from ambassadors by calling or texting 614636-5100.
“Violent crime is not the norm in our community, and this troubling increase in incidents has caused many to be concerned and ask for solutions, especially as businesses are on the path to recovery due to the pandemic,” Pandora said in a statement provided to The Dispatch. “We believe safety in the Short North Arts District is a state where everyone is free of harm, thrives, and has their well-being protected and their diversity celebrated.”
Mayor Andrew J. Ginther’s office hosted a virtual public safety meeting Aug. 25 with Short North residents, but Thaxton believed the meeting focused more on touting programs that already existed rather than on finding solutions. Two days later, residents and visitors were terrorized by the flurry of armed robberies.
Ginther’s office had not responded to a request for comment by Thursday afternoon.
The armed robberies all were reported within about a half-mile of one another, with three reportedly occurring in or near Goodale Park, police records show. In each report, the victims described similar suspects: two or three males ages 15 to 25 wearing ski masks, with at least one of the males brandishing a gun.
In some cases, the suspects would approach on ride-share electric scooters, whereas in other incidents they were reported to have confronted their victims while on foot, according to police records. The men would then hold their victims at gunpoint, demanding cellphones, wallets and other personal items.
In one case, a victim walking home from a bar reported being assaulted by a suspect with what he believed was a BB gun when a group of males confronted him around 1 a.m. Saturday on the southwest corner of Goodale Park. The 24-year-old man told police that when he initially refused to cooperate with the suspects’ demands, one of them hit him over the head with the weapon he carried.
The suspects beat him up and stole his cellphone, the victim told a police dispatcher in the 911 call he placed about an hour later when he returned to his Downtown apartment. “It was not a real gun, I remember that,” he said during the call.
Although the suspects have so far eluded identification and capture, police say it’s only a matter of time until such brazen criminals are arrested. However, Laird said it will take not only dogged policing, but cooperation with the community to reverse the troubling streak of violence in the neighborhood.
“Certainly, this robbery pattern is an increase in what we’ve seen in the past,” Laird said. “Our analysts are analyzing the crime in that area, and our patrol officers and our chain of command are very aware of the issues.”
Anyone with information on these incidents can call the Columbus Division of Police Robbery Unit at 614-6454665 or report an anonymous tip to the Central Ohio Crime Stoppers at 614-4618477.
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