New York man charged in drunken 2018 shooting that left Columbus woman dead
Three years have passed since Lashay Ford’s family threw a drunk cousin and his two friends out of their Wickham Drive home in Columbus, prompting a barrage of gunfire that left the 24-year-old woman dead from a chest wound.
Two suspects already faced murder charges in her death, and now police have captured a third, Herk James Ellis, a New York City man who faced a judge here Monday morning in Columbus Recorder’s Court.
Authorities issued warrants for Ellis in March 2018, but could not find him until a few months ago, when he was arrested and held in New York, police said. The suspect finally was transferred Friday to the Muscogee County Jail, where he was booked in at 7:37 p.m., according to jail records.
Ellis, who was 32 in 2018, is charged with murder, using a gun to commit a crime and two counts of aggravated assault.
Testifying at Ellis’ preliminary hearing, Detective Robert Nicholas recounted the events that led to Ford’s fatal shooting.
Sometime around 10:45 p.m. on Jan. 24, 2018, Ford’s cousin Dewayne Jones showed up at her home with his close friend Carl McClendon and a third man, later identified as Ellis, whom Ford’s family did not know, the officer said.
The men were intoxicated and rowdy, and eventually one of the five family members there cornered Jones and told him the unwelcome guests had to leave.
A fight erupted, and the family joined together to corral the three outsiders and push them out the door, and that’s when they began firing bullets through the door and the wall, wounding three of the five people inside, Nicholas said.
All three were rushed to the hospital, where Ford died at 11:31 p.m. A man shot through the arm and a woman shot through the leg survived, and later recovered from their injuries, the detective said.
Though the victims knew Jones, then 36, and McClendon, who was 35, they had never seen Ellis before, and did not know his name, Nicholas said.
While questioning the other two suspects, police later learned Ellis was the cousin of Jones’ girlfriend, the officer said.
Investigators here had no mugshot of Ellis, who had been living in New York City, but they were able to get one from New York police, and added it to photo lineups to show witnesses in Ford’s case, Nicholas said. They identified Ellis as the man who had accompanied Jones and McClendon to their home, the officer said.
Jones fled to Mexico after the shooting, but returned and surrendered to authorities in Texas on Feb. 1, 2018. McClendon turned himself in here in Columbus the next day. But it took police years to track Ellis down.
Representing Ellis at his hearing Monday, Columbus attorney Susan Henderson asked whether police had any evidence her client was among those shooting a gun that night. Nicholas replied that investigators know that at least two people fired weapons, because the bullets were of two different calibers.
During Jones’ preliminary hearing in 2018, Nicholas testified police found a .380-caliber shell casing on the home’s front porch, and three .40-caliber casings by a mailbox. He said Jones had told police McClendon had a gun that night, and witnesses had reported seeing Jones with a gun.
As Ellis’ hearing concluded, Judge Julius Hunter found probable cause to send the case to Muscogee Superior Court, ordering the suspect held without bond.