Violent weekend claims four lives, injures four others in Columbus
A grim and violent weekend has claimed the lives of four people, including an unborn baby, and injured four others in the city of Columbus.
The violent holiday weekend began on Friday, July 5, 2024, when 20-year-old Chasity Dean was found stabbed at Elizabeth Canty Homes around 1:50 P.M. Dean was taken immediately to Piedmont Columbus Regional where she was pronounced dead, along with her unborn baby. Thankfully, due to a huge Alabama and Georgia law enforcement effort, the suspect, identified as 20-year-old Kyle Dean, was found in Lee County and arrested.
The violence continued on Saturday, July 6, 2024, when a person was stabbed at Highland Terrace Apartments on Apex Road. Their condition is not known. Hours later, police responded to another stabbing on Bragg Smith Street at Cusseta Road. A 42-year-old woman was stabbed in the hand.
Nearly six hours later, chaos erupted in downtown Columbus in the 1019 Broadway parking garage when shots were fired striking three people shortly after midnight on Sunday, July 7, 2024. 21-year-old Quentin Scott Jr. was shot multiple times and pronounced dead on scene, while the two others were taken to a nearby hospital in stable condition. Columbus police have made at least one arrest in the case, and expect to make more. 21-year-old Brandon Day was arrested and charged with murder after a wanted poster was sent out Sunday morning.
Sunday afternoon, the violence went from the streets to behind bars, when an inmate of Rutledge State Prison was assaulted and killed. Muscogee County Coroner Buddy Bryan identified the inmate as 58-year-old Leon Hobson.
Following the death of Hobson, Muscogee County Coroner Buddy Bryan told media outlets, “Four [homicides] in one holiday weekend is a rarity.”
Also happening, this weekend, a pedestrian was struck and killed by a vehicle on Buena Vista Road, an escapee was caught in Columbus after a vehicle pursuit, and a vehicle crashed into a Harris County restaurant just past the Muscogee County line.
An investigation remains ongoing into all of these incidents.
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