COLUMBUS, Ohio — A 14-year-old boy accused of making threats that caused two Pickerington schools to lockdown this week is also a suspect in a series of violent crimes in a Columbus neighborhood.
Pickerington High School North and Lakeview Junior High went into lockdown for a couple of hours on Tuesday after someone made a threat online toward Lakeview.
The boy was identified as the suspect and arrested in another part of Fairfield County later in the day.
“That name came up. Our officer, who is a parent in the school district where this happened, was called. He had information already and put one and one together to figure out who we were looking at, and it was the same person we were already looking for. He already had a warrant for robbery in the last several weeks,” said Columbus Division of Police Commander Duane Mabry.
The teen and some of his friends are suspects in about a dozen armed robberies and carjackings targeting women over 40 years old in the Old Oaks neighborhood on the near east side.
Mabry said the crime spree started Labor Day and there has been a carjacking or robbery almost every other day since. The suspect descriptions are the same in each case.
“The scary thing is, a weapon involved, the number of weapons involved. Whether it has been a knife or gun," Mabry said.
Mabry said the community sent in photos and videos of the group walking through alleys with an AR-15.
“We are hoping the residents who live in the near east side and Old Oaks area, we are hoping they have a safer neighborhood today after what happened this week,” Mabry said.
The teen could face several charges in Franklin and Fairfield counties.