One man killed, another wounded in Columbus weekend drive-by shooting, police say

One man fatally was shot and another wounded early Sunday as they sat on a front porch on 23^rd Street off Hamilton Road near Columbus’ Rose Hill area, police said.

Officers were called at 12:15 a.m. to reports of gunfire in the 900 block of 23^rd Street, where two men ages 28 and 19 were hit and taken to Piedmont Columbus Regional, just a few blocks south of the shooting scene, police said.

That’s where the 28-year-old, Tray Antwon Thomas, died from his wounds at 12:48 a.m., authorities said. The wounded teen is expected to recover, they said.

Witnesses told investigators a dark-colored sedan was passing the residence where the two sat on the porch when “a number of rounds” were fired from the car, striking the house as well as the men sitting there, detectives wrote in a news release.

Anyone with information on the shooting is asked to contact Detective Robert Nicholas at 706-225-4363 or robertnicholas@columbusga.org.

Muscogee County Coroner Buddy Bryan said Thomas’ death marks Columbus’ 25^th homicide so far this year. The city had 41 homicides last year and 34 in 2018, according to the coroner’s tally.

Tim Chitwood

Columbus Ledger-Enquirer

706-571-8508

Tim Chitwood is from Seale, Alabama, and started as a police beat reporter with the Ledger-Enquirer in 1982. He since has covered Columbus’ serial killings and other homicides, following some from the scene of the crime to trial verdicts and ensuing appeals. He also has been a Ledger-Enquirer humor columnist since 1987. He’s a graduate of Auburn University, and started out working for the weekly Phenix Citizen in Phenix City, Ala.