Posted on 01/23/2004 8:38:05 AM PST by flutters
Gunfire hit cars traveling on I-71 and I-270 yesterday. No one was injured.
A task force investigating the serial sniper is analyzing two shell casings found on an I-71 overpass after a motorist was fired on about 1 a.m.
If the incident is linked to the shooter, it will be the 20th and the most recent since a car was hit Jan. 11.
The bullet that hit Michael Thomas’ car appears to have ricocheted off the hood and cracked the windshield.
Last night, the task force was called to a shooting on the Far West Side, though authorities were trying to determine whether it might be an unrelated case of road rage.
Four bullet holes could clearly be seen on the passenger side of the white Chevy Suburban.
The Suburban’s driver, who asked that his name not be used, told police that the incident happened as he was getting off I-270 at the Georgesville Road exit about 9:45 p.m. to go to work at The Dispatch printing plant.
The man said the shots were fired from a late 1980s white Bonneville that he had passed on the Outerbelt at I-71. The driver of the Bonneville began tailgating him, at one point clipping his Suburban. The Bonneville followed him off the Georgesville ramp and pulled alongside, and shots were fired from it. The driver of the Suburban was uninjured.
Last night, the task force closed the Georgesville Road ramp off the Outerbelt for more than an hour to search for evidence. Authorities wouldn’t discuss the incident.
Yesterday’s early-morning shooting was about 8 miles south of I-270 and a mile from the Pickaway County line, the farthest south a possible sniper shooting has been reported.
Michael Thomas, 30, of the Far East Side, said he saw a person standing in the shadows in front of a parked car on the Lambert Road overpass of I-71 just after his car was shot. That happened about 12:45 a.m., as Thomas drove home from work.
The peaceful music coming from his car stereo was shattered first by a crunching noise, then by cracking glass.
"I didn’t see the weapon discharge. I saw a person stopped on the overpass. I heard a ping and it (the windshield) cracked. That’s when I realized someone shot at me," said Thomas, who braked to a crawl in the northbound lanes of I-71.
He said he saw the person on the overpass as he went under it: "I saw a figure in my rear-view mirror get back in his car and drive off eastbound."
He’s relieved he was driving alone because a passenger in his car might have been injured. The dent in his hood and the circular crack on his windshield directly line up with the passenger seat.
He drove another mile to the Rt. 665 exit, where he stopped at a United Dairy Farmers to call 911.
He said deputies confirmed that a bullet had hit his car and ricocheted into the window.
Thomas, the father of three who often listens to the Bible on tape as he drives, credited divine intervention with keeping him safe.
Task-force members later towed Thomas’ purple 1996 Chevy Corsica to a garage so they could search the engine block for bullet fragments.
Two shell casings found on the Lambert Road bridge are being analyzed, Franklin County Chief Deputy Steve Martin said.
The overpass is in a largely rural area between Grove City and Harrisburg, but the shooter risked being seen by residents of houses along Lambert Road. On the northeast side of the overpass is the Timberlake subdivision, a neighborhood of about 190 houses.
The bullet from the Jan. 11 shooting also hit a car’s hood and richocheted into its windshield, but authorities have not confirmed whether that shot, near the Lockbourne Road overpass on I-270, came from overhead.
Before that, the last link was made to two school buses hit in mid-December.
With these incidents, and past ones involving kids throwing rocks from overpasses (seriously injuring many people), I've become quite cautious when I approach them.
The Unibomber case was NOT solved by the FBI or LE. It was solved when a suspicious brother recognized Kosinski's writing style and dropped a dime.
Someone may be suspicious of a relative or friend, and if they hear "it was a .270," and that suspected person is known to have a .270, they finally call the cops and solve the case, Unibomber-style.
Why they are keeping the caliber secret makes NO sense!
More Shootings Reported Overnight
Task Force Investigates Separate Reports
POSTED: 11:36 PM EST January 22, 2004
UPDATED: 11:47 AM EST January 23, 2004
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The task force investigating a series of shootings in southern Franklin County responded to three reports of gunfire late Thursday and early Friday.
The first shooting took place Thursday night at around 10 p.m. at the Interstate 270 exit ramp onto Georgesville Road, NewsChannel 4 reported.
Bullets reportedly struck a sport utility vehicle at least four times while the driver was on his way to work at the Columbus Dispatch printing facility.
The victim, who drove to work and then notified authorities, reportedly said that the bullets might have come from a white Pontiac Bonneville.
The driver was not hurt.
Investigators gathered evidence late Thursday night.
The next report of gunfire occurred at 12:15 a.m. Friday along Ivy Brush Court, near Hall Road and I-270. NewsChannel 4's Kyle Anderson reported that several 911 calls were placed, indicating there were reports of gunfire.
The homeowners told NewsChannel 4 that his house was hit twice, and that investigators found 15 high-powered shell casings in the cul de sac in front of the home. The homeowner and investigators believe that the shooting is likely not related to the serial shootings.
Then at about 2 a.m., Whitehall police attempted to stop a gray Pontiac Bonneville for a temporary tag violation, but the driver did not stop until after jumping a curb near Livingston Avenue and Hamilton Road, Anderson reported.
Two men were inside the vehicle. One ran away from police. The other, Curtis Miller, of Columbus, was arrested wearing a bulletproof vest.
"There are weapons in the car, and that still remains to be seen exactly what the weapons are and what role they have to play in this," Columbus police Sgt. Gregory DeRosier said.
Investigators found an AK-47, a .380-caliber semiautomatic weapon and a .357-caliber revolver.
Whitehall police said the incident was reported to the serial shooting task force, and that the incident has not been ruled out in the investigation.
Meanwhile, the serial shooting task force on Thursday investigated another shooting, this time along Interstate 71 near Lambert Road. For more on that story, click here.
There is no word on whether these shootings are linked to the serial shootings along the city's south outerbelt.
Stay Safe drive erratic !
I'd never ride a motorcycle on a freeway...What got me would have killed a biker.
Uhhhhhhhhh........... We call it COWlumbus.
I remember hearing a reporter say that they won't release the caliber because the type of bullets found could be used with multiple guns. Also, I remember early in the investigation the reporter that 'slipped' and said it was a 50 caliber.
I ran a public access check on Curtis Miller from the municipal court website. This guy has a rap sheet as long as my arm, 26 years old and lives on the East side.
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