COLUMBUS, Ohio — An officer was shot and a suspect was killed after a robbery and shootout that ended on Interstate 70 last Thursday — but what happened in the days and weeks leading up to the county-wide crime spree?
“...When local news breaks, we will take a look at the individual and see if there's anything we can do either through past surveillance at the store or anything that can help aiding and catching some of these criminals,” said L.E.P.D. Firearms, Range and Training Facility owner Eric Delbert.
Delbert said two of the suspects, Faisal Dorad and Abdisamad Ismail, were in his store on May 11. L.E.P.D. runs the driver's licenses of everyone who uses their range.
“They made a couple behavior moves that made our range officers very uneasy to the point where they were no longer allowed to shoot on the range that day,” Delbert said.
Delbert explained the two brought in their own handgun and wanted to practice on the range.
“They pulled the firearm out of a hoodie, I believe, and inadvertently pointed it in the direction of the range officers. It wasn't in a threatening way, but more in a manner that they didn't know better,” Delbert said.
They were asked to leave before they tried to buy any guns or ammunition.
“We didn't feel comfortable of them handling firearms. They didn't exhibit good behavior that we wanted to see when we bring someone onto the firing range,” Delbert explained.
That was weeks before the suspects' alleged involvement in a shootout with police.
In the afternoon hours of July 6, three suspects took part in an armed car theft at the Buyers Auto dealership in Whitehall, then proceeded to rob the Fifth Third Bank on Hilliard-Rome Road.
Officers responded, resulting in a pursuit and shootout on I-70 eastbound that left one officer shot and one suspect dead. That suspect was later identified as Abdisamad Ismali.
The two remaining suspects escaped from the scene on I-70, but have now been apprehended by police and were identified as 20-year-old Aden Abdullahi Jama and 23-year-old Faisal Darod.
CrimeTracker 10 found only traffic citations for each Darod, Jama and Ismail — no other violent crimes.
According to a criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court, officers recovered two firearms from the incident on I-70 east.
One was a Glock handgun with an extended magazine that court documents say was recovered near Ismail. The other gun that was recovered was a black semi-automatic handgun found on the pavement of the highway in the direction where Jama and Dorad reportedly ran after the exchange of gunfire.
CrimeTracker 10 has asked if the suspects possessed the guns legally, and where they got the guns.
Federal investigators are still looking into those questions, but no one under 21 in the state of Ohio can possess a handgun. Jama is 20 years old and Ismail who died at the scene, was 19, making it illegal for both of them to possess the handguns found.
Dorad was scheduled to appear in federal court on Wednesday, but he waived the detention hearing. He will be held in federal custody. His next court appearance is slated for July 24.