Hilltop man charged in double killing

Faces 2 counts of murder for April shooting deaths

A Columbus man has been charged with two counts of murder in connection with a double homicide last April on the city’s West Side.

Datwain Crudup, 27, of the Hilltop, is charged with two counts of murder and was transferred to the Franklin County jail from another facility in connection with the charges, according to court records.

Crudup is charged in the April 3 fatal shootings of 19-year-old Nickolas Cowans, of South Linden, and 24-year-old Kevin Williams, of the West Side.

City homicide detectives reported that the two men, along with a third man who survived, were found shot around 2:40 p.m. in a parking lot on the 900 block of Eaton Avenue on the West Side, on April 3. Court records indicate Crudup was in a gold-colored vehicle and appeared to ambush the three men when he began shooting at them.

Crudup is also facing a felonious assault charge for the wounding of the third man, who was hospitalized for months, court records state.

Crudup has ties to a local Crips gang, court records in an unrelated case state. He is being held without bond in the Franklin County jail.

As of Monday morning, homicide detectives had cleared 50% of the record 204 homicide cases in Columbus in 2021 through the identification of a suspect.

bbruner@dispatch.com