Murder suspect seen with victim shortly before fatal shooting, Columbus police say
Investigators found only a few clues the Sunday that 16-year-old Allen Toombs was found gunned down on the railroad tracks under an Interstate 185 bridge off Conner Road.
That was around 2 p.m. Nov. 15, when patrol officers responded to reports of a body on the tracks, where police found Toombs had been shot repeatedly.
Beside the body, multiple 9 millimeter shell casings were lying about, each stamped with a manufacturer’s brand, a detective testified Tuesday in Columbus Recorder’s Court.
On social media, police learned Toombs earlier had been seen miles away, at the Wilson Homes public housing complex, 3400 Eighth Ave., where witnesses saw the teen leave in a car with Lilmarcus Terell Ransom and another man, said police Sgt. Jeff Krause.
That was about 30 minutes before witnesses around Conner Road heard gunfire about 1:30 a.m., Krause said, explaining police were able to estimate the time interval because Wilson Homes surveillance video recorded the three males getting into a red 2005 Kia Rio.
Suspect caught, questioned
On Nov. 20, police stopped a car matching that description on Morris Road, for a traffic violation, and detained Ransom for questioning, finding the vehicle belonged to his girlfriend, Krause said.
Impounding the car, they found a pistol under the passenger’s seat, a Taurus G2C 9-millimeter, loaded with bullets stamped with the same brand as those found by Toombs’ body, the sergeant said.
Under questioning, Ransom, 20, denied that he knew Toombs, and claimed he left his girlfriend’s home that night only once, to make a delivery for the online service DoorDash, Krause said.
His girlfriend told police they did deliver some food for DoorDash that night, around 11 p.m., but she didn’t know what Ransom did after that, the detective said.
Police found that evidence, along with other clues Krause did not disclose in court, sufficient to charge Ransom with murder.
Ransom’s defense attorney did not.
The defense responds
“No one saw Mr. Ransom conduct any type of argument or any type of confrontation with the victim, nor saw him with the victim at the time of the shooting,” Michael Eddings told Judge Julius Hunter. “The only time he was around the victim was 30 minutes prior to the shooting. A lot can happen in those 30 minutes.... It was at two different locations.”
That’s not enough for Hunter to find “probable cause” that Ranson committed any crime, Eddings said, so the charge should be dismissed.
Prosecutor Nicholas Hud countered that the surveillance video, the matching brand of bullets and Ransom’s allegedly lying about whether he knew Toombs or left the apartments with the victim was enough to send the case to Muscogee Superior Court.
Hunter agreed, saying Eddings could argue in a trial that the evidence is lacking.
“I think that the arguments that Mr. Eddings is making are closing arguments to a jury,” the judge said. “A probable cause finding is not a guilty finding. In the court’s opinion, there is minimal probable cause here, so it will go over to Superior Court.”
He ordered Ransom held without bond, and told him to have no contact with Toombs’ family.
Krause said investigators have identified a second suspect in Toombs’ homicide, and they are hunting for him now. Police have not publicized his name, for fear of spurring him to flee, the officer said.
Toombs’ death was the 40th of 46 homicides recorded in Columbus last year, an apparent record that surpassed a recent peak of 44 in 2017.