Columbus suspect ‘well aware’ of actions during downtown shooting spree, cop testifies
The suspect in a weekend shooting spree that wounded five people in two days was targeting white soldiers in downtown Columbus when he fired nine shots into a Broadway crowd Friday night, a detective testified Tuesday.
One of the three people he hit was a Black woman who remained hospitalized this week in stable condition after having surgery, Detective Brandon Lockhart told Recorder’s Court Judge Julius Hunter.
The other two victims, both white men, were treated and released from the hospital, Lockhart said during a preliminary hearing for Justin Tyran Roberts, 39, who faces multiple felony counts here in Columbus, and is to face more charges in Phenix City, where the shootings began about 8:15 p.m. Friday.
After a white man with a short haircut was wounded outside Phenix City’s Courtyard by Marriott hotel, 1400 Whitewater Ave., the suspect ran across the 14th Street bridge to Columbus, where at 10:20 p.m. police were called to a shooting outside Picasso’s Pizzeria, 1020 Broadway, authorities said.
Lockhart testified Tuesday that Roberts told detectives he was walking north on Broadway that night when he saw a group of people who “appeared to be white males who were in the military” and opened fire.
Roberts afterward ran south before turning east onto 10th Street, the detective said.
Police reviewing surveillance camera footage of the incident identified Roberts, who was arrested after a fifth victim was wounded around 2 p.m. Saturday at Broadway and Fourth Street, Lockhart said.
Questioned at police headquarters, Roberts admitted to all three shootings, and elaborated on his motivation, the officer said.
“He basically stated the military white men had taken from him a lot, and also had been shooting him with a slingshot, that consisted of a syringe that irritated his skin,” Lockhart said. “That was his exact quote.”
The detective, who said he believes Roberts is mentally ill, later added that Roberts told officers white soldiers shot the syringes at him as he walked by a wooded area on Victory Drive.
When public defender John Brewer asked whether Roberts identified soldiers by their uniforms, Lockhart said the suspect told police he can tell by “the way they carry themselves” and the “big trucks” they drive.
Despite his possible delusions, Roberts “was well aware of what he was doing,” Lockhart said. “He was very sincere about it, also.”
Lockhart said that when he left the police interview room, another investigator, Michael O’Keefe, asked the suspect whether he was sorry for what happened. Roberts said he was.
“He also said he asked God for forgiveness, at which time he did break down and cry,” Lockhart said.
When Roberts was arrested about 4 p.m. Saturday outside 425 Third Ave., where patrol officers spotted him sitting on some steps, he had a Taurus 9-millimeter pistol. Investigators determined that it had been stolen from a car parked at a muffler shop at 13th Street and Veterans Parkway, the detective said.
His charges in Tuesday’s hearing were three counts of aggravated assault and one count each of using a gun to commit a crime and being a convicted felon with a firearm.
Hunter found probable cause to send the case to Muscogee Superior Court. Roberts is being held without bond, and is to undergo a mental health evaluation.
Prosecutor Nicholas Hud has noted that Roberts’ prior felony convictions include possessing a stolen gun and being a convicted felon with a firearm.
Roberts faced similar charges Monday in a hearing related to Saturday’s shooting at a parking area under the Oglethorpe Bridge, where a man was shot in the back as he was getting into his vehicle.
Police described that victim as being of Asian descent. Investigators said Roberts fired six shots, striking the man once and leaving four bullet holes in his car.
Hud said Monday that the victim had been released from the hospital.
Among those attending Tuesday’s hearing was District Attorney Mark Jones, who said he hopes Roberts “stays in prison the rest of his life.”
“He terrorized the whole community,” Jones said. “He’s shooting on Broadway, and not to say that you can do this in other parts of town, this sort of terrible crime, but that’s a nucleus of our community. That’s where tourists come. That’s where we go ... to kind of let our hair down on the weekends, and we have to feel safe there.”
In a news conference announcing Roberts’ arrest Saturday, Columbus Police Chief Freddie Blackmon said investigators believe Roberts acted alone, and the Broadway shootings were “isolated incidents” that should not make people fear coming downtown.
This story was originally published June 15, 2021 at 4:36 PM.