Police Investigate Overnight Robbery Turned Homicide

COLUMBUS, Ohio—Columbus police are trying to figure out what happened moments before a Central Ohio man was gunned down.

It happened at an apartment on the 1000 block of Stanley Avenue. 

Police say it all started just after midnight when 22-year-old Christopher Hamilton got into an altercation with another person inside. Within moments, gunshots rang out.

“I wouldn’t say I was scared. It was a little unnerving,” said a man who was inside at the time and who wished to remain anonymous.

He said Hamilton had just arrived at the apartment when everything happened.

“The guy came in, asked for the person who lived there. He came in, I heard shots, some tumbling. People ran out of the house and we ran out the house,” he said.

He said he heard six gun shots in all.

“It was like two straight, then it was a rumble and tussle then it was like four straight.“

In the end, Hamilton had been shot several times in the upper body. 

Following the shooting, police said, Hamilton tried to flee the apartment out the back door only to collapse just feet into the back yard.

He was taken to Grant Medical Center where he died. Police have identified a person of interest.

Columbus Police Sgt. Dana Norman with the Homicide Squad said that since last Monday, Oct. 19, there have been five homicides that occurred over third shift. 

“My people are very busy. They’re swamped,” Norman said.

However, Norman said there is no connection between any of the recent homicides.

Anyone with information is asked to call Columbus police at 614-645-4730.

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