Nicole Pleasant, woman slain by gunman in Columbus, identified
A woman whom Columbus police say was fatally shot during a domestic violence incident Saturday by a gunman later killed in a shootout with police has been identified by the Franklin County Coroner's Office.
The body of Nicole Pleasant, 45, was found inside a home on the 1000 block of Lockwood Avenue, the coroner's office said.
Columbus police responded at 7:08 p.m. to a report of shots fired on the 4700 block of McAllister Avenue just off Shady Lane Road, one block south of East Main Street, police said.
Officers responded to a report of a person threatening neighbors with a gun. Body camera shows a neighbor pointing arriving officers in the direction of the suspect, then immediately coming under fire. The two officers, who each have one year on the department, returned fire and took cover behind vehicles and fences.
After a short period of time without taking any fire, the officers found the male gunman lying on a sidewalk. Officers rendered aid until medics arrived and transported the suspect to Mount Carmel East Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead at 7:50 p.m., police said.
While securing the scene of the shooting, officers and medics were directed to a residence on the 1000 block of Lockwood Road, where they found a woman who had been shot by the suspect before officers arrived. Pleasant was pronounced dead at the scene at 7:18 p.m. by Columbus Division of Fire medics, the coroner's office said.
Although the coroner's office identified Pleaseant as the female victim on Monday afternoon, Columbus police Chief Elaine Bryant at a news conference later in the afternoon declined to identify the victim or the suspect gunman, whom police said fired on police with a rifle and had numerous weapons.
No Columbus police officers were injured in the incident, police said.
Relatives of the slain woman declined to speak with Dispatch reporters on Sunday.
The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation is investigating the fatal shooting of the gunman, as is the case with any law enforcement officer-involved shooting in the city of Columbus.
Columbus police homicide detectives are handling the investigation into the woman's homicide.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Nicole Pleasant identified as women killed by suspect shot by police
