Police: Shooting near Cusseta Road and 32nd Avenue has left one dead

A shooting on Cusseta Road and 32nd Avenue has left one dead, Columbus police said.

Dominique Devonte Horton, 22, was pronounced dead of multiple gunshots at 4:09 p.m. Thursday in the emergency room at Midtown Medical Center, Muscogee County Coroner Buddy Bryan said. Horton’s body will be sent to crime lab in Decatur for an autopsy.

Police Maj. Gil Slouchick said detectives are on the scene in the early stages of a homicide investigation.

Detectives transported lights to the scene to illuminate the parking lot at 339 32nd Ave. where multiple gunshots were fired. Bright yellow cones were placed near a white Chevy pickup parked on the street and more were scattered near the mailboxes in the parking lot at at the apartment complex.

Saturday Ologhoejebi, the owner of the property, said he was driving in the area when he saw all the police activity near his building. He learned that some type of dispute started with three women and two men at the intersection of Cusseta Road and 32nd Ave. “They started fighting and worked their way from about a block to the property, “ he said.

Ologhoejebi, 59, said a big man shot a smaller man before the two exchanged gunfire during the dispute. He said the bigger man, who has been identified as Horton, fell near a row of mailboxes at the apartment complex. The deadly shooting was between Apartment 23 and 24, he said.

“I feel really bad,” he said of the deadly gunfire.

The owner said people involved in the shooting don’t live at the complex. Some people were evicted from the property this week, but he doesn’t believe there is a connection.

Police recently seized seven stolen cars that were found on the property. They had been stolen from Phenix City, he said. “Activity is going on every night,” he said. “I’m on the property by 11 p.m. You call the police, but there is very little they can do.”

Bryan said the shooting death is the first homicide of 2017 in Columbus.

This story was originally published January 5, 2017 at 5:06 PM with the headline "Police: Shooting near Cusseta Road and 32nd Avenue has left one dead."