Survivor identifies suspect in fatal shooting of man on 25th Avenue, police say

The survivor of a 25th Avenue shooting identified Rashawn Porter as the gunman from a police photo line up, even though the suspect’s wife said he was home with her on Oct. 15, Columbus police and witnesses testified Wednesday in Recorder’s Court.

Porter, 34, of Columbus pleaded not guilty to one count each of murder in the death of Curtis Lockhart, 57, and aggravated assault in the shooting of Alexander Jackson, 57, outside 347 25th Ave. Judge Julius Hunter ordered Porter held without bond in the Muscogee County Jail and bound both charges over to Muscogee Superior Court.

Police Sgt. Wendy Holland said officers found two men with gunshot wounds after police were called at 12:10 a.m. to a shooting. Lockhart died of three gunshot wounds at Piedmont Columbus Regional midtown campus where Jackson also was treated for one gunshot wound and later released.

During the investigation, police talked to Jackson who identified Porter as the shooter. Jackson also said Porter was driving a green car on the night of the shooting.

Holland said there had been some problems with Porter and Lockhart’s family members before the shooting.

The suspect told police that he came to the scene after he received an alert on his cellphone about the shooting. The detective said there is video surveillance from a church in the area but the video is still under investigation.

Represented by defense attorney Michael Eddings, Porter was taken into custody on Oct. 18.

Amy Porter, the suspect’s wife, testified in court Wednesday that she was home the day police came to her house. Police found her 9 mm pistol but it wasn’t involved in any shooting, she said.

She also said the couple have been together for 16 years, including 10 years married. They have a green Infiniti but they don’t drive it because of a crack in the front windshield.

She was questioned by assistant district attorney Matt Brown about her husband and where he was the night of the shooting.

“When I went to sleep, he was there with me,” she testified. “I know he did not leave.”

If she were asleep, Brown asked, how would the wife know whether he left home. Amy Porter said she’s 100 percent sure he didn’t leave and he wasn’t at the scene of the shooting.

Outside the courtroom, the wife said they fell asleep about 1 a.m. while watching a movie.

“He is being framed for this,” she said. “My husband is innocent.”

She said he doesn’t even know the Lockhart or Jackson families.

“I have never been around them,” she said. “I never seen him around them. My husband don’t go no where. He works all the time.”

Standing with Amy Porter, Eddings said he’s happy there is surveillance video and he feels strongly Porter was home with his wife.

“This surveillance video will show that it wasn’t him at the scene,” he said. “All we have is that it’s of a green car. It’s a very popular car. We don’t have the make, model, no license plate to identify green as being the green car being owned by Mr. Porter.”

Eddings noted there was a prior problem with some people on 25th Avenue.

“We strongly believe nobody saw Mr. Porter that night,” he said. “Nobody saw his car on the scene that night and nobody saw him shooting. This was all based on some prior incident. They know what he looks like and know the car he drives.”

Eddings said evidence will show he didn’t commit this crime.

“He was home with his loving wife,” he said.

The defense attorney said Porter is being falsely accused because he does have a mental disability.

“Mental challenges make him an easy target,” he said. “People kind of make a label and say he was part of this. We strongly feel he is being targeted because of mental disability.”

This story was originally published October 24, 2018 at 5:29 PM.