16-year-old girl fatally shot by her father
Mom on 911 call says dad mistook teen for intruder
A 16-year-old Canal Winchester High School junior whom police said was mistaken for an intruder early Wednesday morning was fatally shot by her father.
The shooting was reported on the 5400 block of Piper Ridge Drive, located in the Lehman Meadows subdivision off Gender Road on the city’s Southeast Side.
Police said they received a call around 4:30 a.m. saying that someone inside the home had shot at what he believed to be someone breaking into the home after the home’s security system was activated.
The 911 call, obtained by The Dispatch,
was made by the mother of 16year-old Janae Hairston, who said the teen had been shot in the garage by her father, who believed she was an intruder.
Hairston’s father can be heard on the call, which lasts more than eight minutes, distraught and asking what his daughter was doing. Both parents are heard begging for the girl to wake up and asking when police will arrive. Officers arrived on the scene about five minutes after the call was placed.
Janae Hairston was taken to Mount Carmel East Hospital, where she died about an hour later.
Hairston’s social media profile reflects that of a typical teenaged girl, with numerous selfies and other photographs showing her smiling. Several posts show her discussing getting a job and trying to decide whether she should
stay close to home or go further away for college.
Hairston was a junior at Canal Winchester High School, the district confirmed Wednesday. The district, in a note to families, said counselors would be made available when students return from winter break and provided links to resources that are morereadily accessible for students and their parents as they deal with the loss.
Detectives are continuing to investigate Hairston’s death, the seventh homicide to be reported in Columbus within a week and the third in three days. The case will be forwarded to the Franklin County Prosecutor’s office for review.
On Tuesday evening, police were called to the 400 block of Markison Avenue around 5 p.m. on a report of a shooting. Officers found a man who had been shot and he was rushed to Ohiohealth Grant Medical Center. The man, 38-year-old Darold Reese, of the city’s Southeast Side, died around 5:30 p.m. Wednesday.
Also on Tuesday, police said the Franklin County Coroner’s office had classified the death of a man in March as a homicide, making it the city’s 200th homicide for 2021.
Bobby Nesbitt, 58, died March 10 after becoming unresponsive when a family member restrained him during an altercation at his Berwick home, police said. According to a news release from Columbus police, officers had been called around 4:10 p.m. that day to the 1600 block of Rose View Drive, located east of College Avenue/route 33, and found Nesbitt unresponsive. Nesbitt was taken to Grant Medical Center, where he died.
Police said they discovered through their investigation that Nesbitt had stabbed a family member with scissors during the altercation and the family member then restrained Nesbitt, causing him to become unresponsive. According to an autopsy report, Nesbitt died after going into cardiac arrest.
No charges have been filed in the case as of Wednesday and the case has been sent to the Franklin County Prosecutor’s office for review, which is standard policy.
Police also are continuing to investigate the shooting death of 22-year-old Preston Bell, who was found shot on the 1100 block of Shady Lane Road, on the city’s East Side, around 4:40 a.m. Monday.
And the investigation continues in the death of Imam Mohamed Hassan Adam, who was found dead on Friday afternoon in a car on the North Side. A service to honor Adam’s life will be held during the Asr prayer time, around 3:10 p.m. Thursday, at Ibnu Taymiyah Masjid, 2334 Mock Road on the city’s Northeast Side.
Police on Wednesday also announced that a second suspect has been arrested in connection with an Oct. 31 homicide. David Peton Jr., 20, turned himself in at police headquarters after being charged with felonious assault and murder in connection with the death of Nazeer Winton, 21. Winton was shot and killed on the 3200 block of Rabbit Hill Lane on Oct. 31. Othman Abdu, 18, had already been arrested and charged in connection with the case.
Dispatch reporters Eric Lagatta and Michael Lee contributed to this report.