A young man told Columbus police he was cleaning his gun when it went off, striking a teenage girl in the forehead and killing her Tuesday afternoon at a Franklinton apartment complex, according to court documents.
Columbus homicide detectives say 20-year-old Tejuan Stanley shot the girl around 12:45 p.m. inside a first-floor apartment in the Hawthorn Village apartment complex in the 700 block of West Rich Street.
Stanley, whose last known address was South Richardson Avenue in Hilltop, was with the girl and others in the apartment rented to an older man who was not home when the incident occurred.
Gun Violence in Columbus: UNDER FIRE
“This older gentleman was letting her stay there with him for some reason,” the sergeant said. Edward J. Powell III told The Dispatch. The apartment complex has traditionally been for senior housing, according to its website.
Stanley and the others apparently panicked after the shooting and fled, Powell said. After a description of the gunman was sent over police radios, Stanley was identified and arrested at a Central Ohio Transit Authority bus stop at 5505 W. Broad St. Detectives are looking for other people. who may have witnessed the shooting.
On Wednesday morning, Columbus police identified the girl as Elisha Judd, 16, of Columbus.
Judd was a student in the Columbus City Schools system, the district said, however the district did not identify the school Judd attended.
Police were called at 12:47 p.m. to the apartment complex, where they found Judd with an apparent gunshot wound. Officers provided first aid until Columbus Fire Division paramedics arrived and continued to try to save her, but they pronounced Judd dead about 10 minutes later.
Stanley has been cooperative, Powell said. According to a probable cause affidavit, “He (Stanley) took the gun apart and when he put it back together, he accidentally put a round in the chamber and didn’t know he loaded it.”
Stanley was charged with reckless homicide and taken to the Franklin County Jail. Reckless homicide in Ohio is defined as recklessly causing the death of another person and requires the offender to know that his or her actions could kill someone, according to the Ohio Revised Code.
Upon conviction, the charge is punishable by up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
Arrest in March shooting death of man
Columbus police arrested a 21-year-old man Tuesday in connection with the March 11 shooting death of a man on the city’s south side.
Tayvion Taylor, of the South Side, was arrested by a SWAT team Tuesday without incident. Taylor is charged with murder in connection with the death of Richard Carr, 62, on March 11.
Carr was found shot at around 3:45 p.m. that day inside his apartment in the 1800 block of Lockbourne Road.
According to court records, “fresh DNA evidence” was found at the scene and matched Taylor when tested. Taylor had also entered an area hospital with multiple gunshot wounds in the time surrounding the homicide.
Taylor is scheduled to make his first court appearance in Franklin County Municipal Court on Wednesday.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: One dead after shooting at Franklinton apartment building