17-year-old wanted in fatal shooting at North Side motel turns himself in to Columbus police
A teenage male wanted in connection with a fatal shooting earlier this month outside a North Side motel has turned himself in to Columbus police.
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Columbus police had identified 17-year-old Harrison Finklea on Friday as the suspect who detectives say shot and killed Jonathan Reddy, 42, of North Linden, during an altercation on Feb. 3 outside a motel on the 1000 block of East Dublin-Granville Road.
Homicide detectives had charged Finklea with murder and aggravated robbery. The police division announced in a tweet Monday that Finklea had turned himself in.
*2ND UPDATE - 2/21/22 - HOMICIDE SUSPECT TURNS HIMSELF IN:
17yo Harrison Finklea turned himself into Columbus Police on Saturday following our social media post Friday night.
He faces 1 count of Murder & one 1 count of Aggravated Robbery. https://t.co/crQckEtBum— Columbus Ohio Police (@ColumbusPolice) February 22, 2022
Homicide detectives said their preliminary investigation indicated Reddy, of North Linden, had arranged to meet the suspect at the motel for a reason they have not disclosed. That suspect, later identified as Finklea, got into Reddy's vehicle, where he soon shot him following a "short altercation," detectives have said.
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Finklea then fled on foot with a woman who was waiting nearby, detectives said.
Police were called to the scene about 12:30 a.m. on the reported shooting, where they found the fatally wounded Reddy in his car. Reddy was pronounced dead by Columbus medics at 12:56 a.m.
The shooting was one of two shootings at commercial businesses within two miles of each other on East Dublin Granville Road and one of a string of several brazen shootings reported at commercial businesses in February in Columbus.
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On the day that Finklea was identified as the suspect in Reddy's death, an 18-year-old man was shot and killed at a Roosters restaurant at 2454 East Dublin-Granville Road (Route 161).
Columbus police officers who had been dispatched at 10:16 p.m. Friday to the restaurant on a reported shooting found Marshawn Davis suffering from a gunshot wound. Davis received aid from responding officers and those who witnessed the shooting, but succumbed to his injuries before paramedics arrived and was pronounced dead at 10:25 p.m., police reported.
A series of 911 calls released Tuesday by Columbus police reveal the aftermath of the Roosters shooting as witnesses frantically call dispatchers to report that a man was shot outside as he was making his way inside the restaurant.
No one who called 911 reported getting a clear look at the suspect, who they said fled after firing one shot into the man's head or face area. Columbus police have not identified any suspect.
On Feb. 14, Max Williams, 24, was permanently paralyzed from the waist down after police say he was the victim of an apparently random drive-by shooting as he sat inside a front window at Dick's Den, a bar and live music venue in Columbus' Old North neighborhood.
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No suspects have been identified in that shooting either.
The Dick's Den and Roosters shootings came amid a week in which Columbus Mayor Andrew J. Ginther declared gun violence a public health crisis following a year in 2021 when a record number 204 people became victims of homicides in the city. The mayor also announced at the same Feb. 15 press conference the formation of a coalition intended to pressure Ohio and U.S. lawmakers to take action to get illegal guns off city streets.
As of Tuesday afternoon, a total of 15 people had been killed within the first two months of 2022 in Columbus.
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Anyone with information on any Columbus homicide can call the city police Homicide Unit at 614-645-4730 or report an anonymous tip to the Central Ohio Crime Stoppers at 614-461-8477.
Eric Lagatta is a reporter at the Columbus Dispatch covering public safety, breaking news and social justice issues. Reach him at elagatta@dispatch.com. Follow him on Twitter @EricLagatta
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus police arrest teen in fatal shooting outside North Side motel
