10TV reports that a man died after an officer-involved shooting with Genoa Township police near Sharon Woods Metro Park in north Columbus on Saturday afternoon. James McMillin said the call began with a sexual assault report and a claim that the suspected person had a gun. The officer who fired is now on standard administrative leave.
Sharon Woods Metro Park response
McMillin said Genoa Township police received the sexual assault call Saturday afternoon and then located the person they believed was the suspect. Officers stopped the vehicle near a park in the Sharon Woods area, where a brief encounter followed and shots were fired. A person was hit and later pronounced dead, while no law enforcement officers were injured.
The sequence matters for anyone trying to understand what changed on the ground: the police response began as a sexual assault investigation and quickly became a fatal shooting scene. The initial call also included information that the potential perpetrator had a gun, which shaped the stop and the immediate police response.
Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation
The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation took over the shooting investigation at the request of Genoa Township Police Department, and its investigations and crime scene units responded to the scene. Genoa Township police are keeping the sexual assault report under separate investigation. That split means one inquiry will examine the alleged assault report and the other will focus on the use of force, the brief encounter, and the shot that followed.
McMillin said he believes one Genoa Township police officer fired their weapon, and that officer will remain on standard administrative leave while the investigation continues. For readers with questions about what happens next, the key point is that the state investigation now controls the shooting review while local investigators continue the original sexual assault case.
