‘We need to take back our city.’ Over 50 arrested in Columbus law enforcement sting
Over 120 arrest warrants have been cleared as part of a week-long operation between the Columbus Police Department, Muscogee County Sheriff’s Office and six other law enforcement agencies, officials announced in a news conference Thursday.
CPD Police Chief Freddie Blackmon, alongside Sheriff Greg Countryman, said “Operation Wash Out River City” resulted in the arrest of 57 individuals and cleared 128 warrants. Twenty-seven firearms and four pounds of illegal substances were also seized.
The U.S. Marshals Service, U.S. Attorney’s Office, FBI, DEA, Georgia State Patrol and the Georgia Department of Community Supervision were all part of the Aug. 9-13 operation.
“We brought this task force together to target gang members and violent offenders,” Blackmon said. “We will no longer tolerate violent crime in our community and we wanted the city to know that we are coming and we are coming hard. This collaboration shows that we are all in, and we need all hands to combat violent crime.”
Warrants executed during the operation ranged from murder to cruelty to children. About one in every five suspects arrested were classified gang members, who accounted for almost one-third of the warrants cleared, according to a release provided by the Sheriff’s Office.
“We wanted to reach out to federal and state agencies to come in and help us address this issue of violent crime,” said Countryman. “It just goes to show that we are invested in letting everyone know that we are not going to tolerate organized crime. We need to take back our city and recognized that there is a problem.”
Although the operation made a dent in the number of open cases, it was immediately followed by string of homicides throughout the city:
- On Aug. 13, 12-year old Cortez Richardson was shot amid crossfire at the intersection of Luna and Armenda drives. He later died at Piedmont Columbus Regional. The FBI has put up a $20,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest in the case.
- On Aug. 14, Iverson Gilyard, 20, was playing basketball near 13th Avenue and Virginia Street when he was shot. He later died at Piedmont Columbus Regional. A juvenile has been arrested in the case. Officers stated that Gilyard and the juvenile were in an altercation prior to the shooting.
- On Aug. 15, Jamel Griffin was found shot near Samson Avenue and 8th Street. He died at 9:06 p.m. at Piedmont Columbus Regional. No arrest has been made in the case.
The following weekend, on Aug. 22, Andrea Ellis, 44, was shot while attending an event at Carver Park. She later died at 6:47 a.m. Wednesday while receiving care at Piedmont Columbus Regional’s Intensive Care Unit.
Countryman said event promoters paid for five sheriff’s deputies to work the event, but only three were available. They were present at the time of the shooting, and Countryman said he also went out to the event after hearing the call come over the radio.
The total homicide count in Columbus now stands at 46. In mid-August 2020, the total homicide count was 28.
Countryman said he hopes to see local agencies continue operations like this on a regular basis.
“Working with federal and state partners allows us to widen our scope on criminals who potentially commit crime in Columbus but may not actually live here,” he said. “We just want to take our city back and protect our kids. We plan to do operations like this as often as we can to show that we are here in full force.”
Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to correct information about the Carver Park shooting and the Muscogee County Sheriff’s Office involvement in providing deputies for it.
This story was originally published August 26, 2021 at 12:18 PM.
