Indictments filed in unrelated homicides, including after-hours mass shooting, 2020 death

Bethany Bruner, Columbus Dispatch
·2 min read

A grand jury approved indictments against two men Monday in connection with separate homicides, including one that occurred more than three years ago.

According to Franklin County Common Pleas Court records, the indictments against Ronald Vaughn, 21, and Kalen King, 31, were filed Monday.

King, of the Northeast Side, is facing charges of murder and felonious assault in connection with a March 2023 shooting at a Merion Village after-hours club that left two people dead and four others wounded.

The murder charges against King are specifically related to the death of 22-year-old Jayden Peacock, who died at Nationwide Children's Hospital shortly after the March 18, 2023 shooting.

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Columbus police got calls around 5:10 a.m. on March 18, 2023 about gunshots being heard on the 1500 block of South High Street, near Tha Plug after-hours club. When officers arrived, they found multiple people who had been shot outside the nightclub.

One of those people, 21-year-old Antwaun Artis, of North Linden, died at the scene from his injuries. Four other men were injured and taken by squad to area hospitals but survived their injuries. Peacock, who lived in the Hilltop neighborhood, was taken in a private vehicle to Children's Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries.

The indictment filed against King does not include any charges involving Artis' death, according to court records.

King is not currently in custody, according to court records.

Vaughn, of the Northeast Side, is charged with murder and felonious assault in connection with the Oct. 28, 2020 shooting of 22-year-old Giant'e Adaway.

Giant'e Adaway, 22, was shot on Oct. 28, 2020, outside a Northeast Side apartment complex. He died three days later from his injuries.
Giant'e Adaway, 22, was shot on Oct. 28, 2020, outside a Northeast Side apartment complex. He died three days later from his injuries.

Around 7 p.m. on Oct. 28, 2020, Columbus police got a call about a shooting at an apartment complex on the 5000 block of Enclave Boulevard on the city's Northeast Side. When officers arrived, they found a scene but no victim. Adaway had been taken to an area hospital in a private vehicle by a resident of the apartment complex.

Adaway died from his injuries on Oct. 31, 2020.

Vaughn is currently in custody in the Franklin County jail on unrelated charges. He is scheduled to have his first court appearance in the homicide case on Thursday.

bbruner@dispatch.com

@bethany_bruner

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Charges filed in 2020 after-hours club mass shooting that killed 2