Suspect in I-71 shooting faces 27-count indictment
A Delaware County grand jury has indicted Jonathon Myers, the Columbus man who police say crashed his car March 11 on Interstate 71 and then began firing gunshots at motorists and police, on 27 criminal counts.
Myers, 21, of Columbus’ Northland area, was originally charged in Delaware County Common Pleas Court with a single count of attempted aggravated murder for the incident, which occurred on I-71 northbound north of East Powell Road and the Gemini PLACE/IKEA Way exit in Delaware County.
The new charges, filed Friday in Delaware County Common Pleas Court, include five counts of attempted murder, four counts of attempted aggravated murder; nine counts of felonious assault; eight counts of discharging a firearm on or near a prohibited location and one count of having a weapon under a disability, in this case because Myers had previous felonies in Franklin County.
Other gun specifications were attached to each of the murder and felonious assault counts which, if he is convicted of those counts, could add to Myers’ time in prison.
Victims in the grand jury indictment were identified only by their initials. The most serious of the charges, including intentionally shooting at someone identified in the indictment as K.H., include a five-year specification for a “drive-by”-style shooting.
Authorities have accused Myers of striking at least three vehicles with gunfire — including a UPS truck and a van carrying two members of the Madison High School wrestling team and two coaches who were traveling to Ohio State University’s Schottenstein Center — and then shot a Columbus police cruiser and at officers. No motorists were injured; a Columbus police officer was taken to a hospital for treatment out of precaution.
Columbus police and the Ohio Highway Patrol said the shooting began around 9:56 a.m. after Myers crashed a 2014 Ford Fusion into a cable median off the west side of I-71 northbound around mile marker 123, north of the East Powell Road overpass and Gemini PLACE/IKEA Way interchange.
According to police, Myers is accused of then getting out of the vehicle, running back and forth across I-71, arguing with a female passenger who also got out of the car, and firing shots at passing motorists on the interstate.
Myers was eventually shot by police and taken to Ohiohealth Grant Medical Center.
Myers’ attorney, Jeremy Dodgion, said the multiple counts are based on different murder statutes and some of the gunfire aimed at law enforcement.
“Any time you have law enforcement involved, prosecutors take it seriously.
That’s their responsibility.”
The indictment lists the initials of six police officers who were shot at.
A bond hearing for Myers was postponed until 10:30 a.m. on Monday.
Delaware County Prosecutor Melissa Schiffel has filed a motion to deny Myers bail, stating that he failed to appear in Franklin County court on previous felony charges.
“There are five pending warrants on him in Franklin County,” Schiffel said. “He posted bond in those matters ... and then he failed to appear in court.”
Those five Franklin County Common Pleas Court warrants include:
● Felony charges of possession of cocaine, possession of fentanyl and receiving stolen property from an offense on Nov. 12, 2019.
● A felony charge of failure to comply, fleeing and eluding, on Dec. 12, 2019.
● A felony charge of harassment with a bodily substance on April 30, 2020.
● Felony charges of illegal manufacture of drugs (fentanyl), trafficking in fentanyl (two counts), possession and trafficking of cocaine, and receiving stolen property involving a stolen gun on Sept. 24, 2020.
● A 28-count indictment with multiple charges of trafficking in fentanyl and possession of a weapon while a convicted felon (weapons under disability) on Nov. 11, 2020. The trafficking charges come with a major drug offender specification that, if convicted, would carry a mandatory minimum sentence of 11 years each.
There also is a warrant in Franklin County Municipal Court for Myers’ arrest for a misdemeanor domestic violence charge. He was also arrested for domestic violence in 2020, but that case was dismissed, records indicate. dnarciso@dispatch.com @Deannarciso