Foxy Lady shooting suspect was involved in armed robbery days before homicide, police say

The fifth person arrested in the June 5 shooting death of Samuel London was also allegedly involved in an armed robbery incident just days before the shooting, according to court testimony.

Vic’trez Thomas, 17, appeared in Recorder’s Court on Friday, charged with murder, entering an auto and armed robbery.

Before details of the Foxy Lady Lounge shooting were said in court, a police detective testified about an armed robbery that occurred on June 3, two days prior to the homicide.

Columbus police were dispatched to a residence after receiving a call about an armed robbery. A woman was at her residence when two men entered her porch and pulled out guns, she told police.

She directed the men, one alleged to be Thomas, to handguns and a wallet inside of the residence. They took cash from her wallet and several of the handguns, according to police testimony.

The next day, officers made contact with the woman who gave police Facebook photos of Thomas as well as the other person involved in the robbery. The victim also later identified Thomas from a photo lineup.

Police also said a 16-year-old charged in the Foxy Lady homicide was also involved in this same armed robbery. He appeared in Recorder’s Court last week on charges of murder and entering an auto.

The four other suspects arrested in the shooting told police that Thomas was at the Foxy Lady Lounge the night of the shooting, according to Det. Matt Sitler. During investigation, officers located Thomas on surveillance video and found fingerprint evidence linking him to the scene.

Thomas’ defense lawyer, Michael Eddings, said he believes that his client has a good chance of being found innocent because another suspect reportedly told police that he was the shooter. Eddings said court proceedings will take time, but he’s hoping that justice will be served in the case as soon as possible.

“For most young people facing charges like this, it’s devastating,” Eddings said. “But we think that he has a very substantially good chance of beating this case.”

Judge Julius Hunter bound all of Thomas’ charges over to Superior Court with no bond and issued a no contact order for the victims and family in both cases.