Columbus police investigating separate fatal shootings 20 minutes apart Friday night
Columbus police homicide detectives are investigating after two men were killed in separate shooting incidents about 20 minutes apart Friday night.
Police responded to 911 calls placed within seconds of each other at 10:18 p.m. about a shooting on the 2300 block of Century Drive, between Minnesota and Myrtle avenues, on the city’s Northeast Side.
Officers found a 20-year-old male with gunshot injuries who was being rendered aid by a civilian. Police joined in to help before medics transported the man to Ohiohealth Riverside Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead at 11:05 p.m.
The victim’s name was being withheld pending confirmation of identity and notification of family. No further information about any suspect or circumstances of that shooting was immediately released by city homicide detectives.
Around 20 minutes after that call, police were dispatched about 10:40 p.m. to a shooting in the 300 block of East 12th Avenue, east of North 4th Street near the University Commons apartments in the University District.
Responding officers found a blood trail at the scene, but no victims. A short time later, police learned someone had transported a shooting victim in critical condition by private vehicle to Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center.
The victim, Fentahun G. Mengistu, 38, whom records show resided on the East Side, was pronounced dead at 11:19 p.m. at the medical center, police said.
Homicide detectives said they have obtained information that Mengistu was shot at from a motor vehicle that then fled the area.
No suspects or other information about that shooting was available.
The shooting deaths are respectively the 187th and 188th homicides in Columbus as of Saturday morning, further adding to the record death toll of 2021 with three weeks remaining in the year.