Monday, July 12, 2004
Matthew Marx
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
JEFF HINCKLEY | DISPATCH
Columbus police gunned down a Hilltop man last night after he shot two people on Oakley Avenue and led officers on a high-speed chase that had bullets whizzing through North Side neighborhoods.
The chase ended in a crash and shootout. Four other people, including a police officer, were shot during the rampage.
The gunman fired an AK-47 assault rifle from a 1988 Jeep Cherokee wagon as he sped through a residential neighborhood north of Morse Road. As many as five officers returned fire, police said.
"We only had .45s," said Sgt. Brent Mull, spokesman for the Columbus Division of Police. "We were outgunned, but he was outmanned."
The suspect, Alawwa Knowles, 23, of 61 S. Oakley Ave., was in serious condition at Riverside Methodist Hospital late last night,
Mull said the suspect faces at least three charges of felonious assault as well as attempted felonious assault.
Police gave this account:
About 7:24 p.m., two people were shot during a fight , at 353 S. Oakley on the West Side. The victims were taken to Grant Medical Center. One was a 16-year-old boy.
A black Jeep Cherokee was reported fleeing from the scene. A short time later, officers spotted the Jeep heading north on I-71 near 11 th Avenue, and they began to pursue.
The driver pulled off onto Morse Road. Police Sgt. Terry McConnell was on Morse at N. Fourth Street trying to lay down road spikes to stop the Jeep when he was fired at.
Officers could be heard on the police scanner yelling, "He’s shooting, get out of the way!"
Cruisers tried to close in on the Jeep on Morse Road. The driver weaved on and off several residential streets, firing at officers.
At some point, the driver turned down Brittany Road, firing at officers who were returning fire, witnesses said. One of the bullets entered a house at 2107 Brittany, grazing a woman on the neck.
Several cars and homes on the street were struck by bullets, witnesses say.
Janak Patel, of 2018 Brittany Rd., was on his computer when he heard the sirens and the gunshots. He looked out his window to see a man driving east about 50 to 60 mph, holding the steering wheel in his left hand and leaning out the driver’s-side window firing shots, he said.
"His left hand is on the wheel, his right hand is holding what looks like a machine gun," Patel said. "My eyes were just fixed on the gun. He’s firing shots and he’s ducking."
Patel was surveying his car, which had a broken windshield and a shattered rear window. It was unclear whether the damage was from one bullet or two.
The gunman made his way onto Kilbourne Avenue and was headed west when he crashed in the 2300 block. He jumped out of the car firing, grazing one officer in the head and arm, Mull said.
That officer and several others returned fire, and the gunman fell to the ground, witnesses said.
"Cops were on him quick," said Bobby Rothgeb, 17, who heard the shots and came outside to see the officers swarm in on the suspect.
By this time, numerous cruisers had closed in on the North Side neighborhood. Backtracking the pursuit path, piecing together the damage and interviewing officers who were involved in the pursuit continued into the early morning.
A bullet struck a Brittany Road home about 2 feet above a window to a basement where children watched Harry Potter.
"You don’t want people to think you can get away with things without police shooting back at you," said their father. But the man wondered if everyone would have been better off if they had let the gunman go. "That speeding car is just as bad a weapon."
Mull said officers had to continue to pursue the gunman because he was an imminent threat to the public. "If he has a reckless disregard for life," then officers have an obligation to stop him, he said.
Dispatch reporter Rasha Aly contributed to this story .
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