What we know about the suspect in West Jefferson Amazon warehouse shooting
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — The suspect killed after a shooting at a central Ohio Amazon facility has been identified as a security guard assigned to the facility by an outside contractor.
On Monday, West Jefferson police released more information about two Sunday afternoon shootings tied to one male suspect. The incident started around 4:45 p.m. at Amazon’s CMH5 distribution center, located west of Columbus at 6400 OH-29.
The man, whom police identified as 22-year-old Ali Hamsa Yusuf, a security guard assigned to the facility by a third-party contractor, fired one shot inside and damaged the building. No one was injured, according to West Jefferson police, who also confirmed that more than 100 employees were inside at the time of the shooting.
Woman killed before east Columbus ‘gun battle’ identified
One 911 caller stated he heard shots fired inside the building and a woman screaming before people started going outside. Another 911 caller, who identified himself as an Amazon employee, said Yusuf was his “trainee” and that he shot at him twice but missed. “He almost executed me,” said the second 911 caller.
West Jefferson police chief Brandon Smith said in a news conference Monday that the gun Yusuf used was semi-automatic and was threatening the 911 callers.
Yusuf then left the Amazon facility in a car before responding officers arrived at the scene. At 6:08 p.m., Columbus police officers found the suspect on the west side of the city driving on Hall Road. When officers approached Yusuf, West Jefferson police said he began shooting at them. Yusuf hit one CPD officer and was then shot by multiple officers returning fire.
“So it immediately puts the officers just into a situation where it’s all hands on deck and an adjacent agency that hears it generally stops what they’re doing to come to assist,” Smith said.
The injured officer was taken to Grant Medical Center in a stable condition; as of Monday, he has been released from the hospital. Columbus police chief Elaine Bryant said that the officer’s bulletproof vest stopped the gunshot from causing a more serious injury.
“Very grateful that he had that bulletproof vest on,” Bryant said. And did you show the picture? Yep. As you can see, that vest took that round. And so we’re very grateful that he’s here with us today.”
Yusuf was taken to Doctors West Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 6:57 p.m., Columbus police said.
The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation has opened investigations into the shooting at the Amazon facility and the officer-involved shooting in west Columbus.
This was the second incident in which a suspect was shot by a Columbus police officer over the weekend. On Saturday, officers engaged in a “gun battle” with a domestic violence suspect on the east side, killing him. Police said the man killed a woman before encountering police.
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