Witnesses identify third suspect in Columbus shooting that killed one, injured two, cops say
The three suspects now charged in a 2021 Columbus shooting that left one man dead and two others wounded are a man and wife, and the wife’s son, authorities revealed Wednesday after a court hearing.
Exactly one year after the Oct. 12 shooting near 47th Street and Gilbert Avenue, William Bernard Leonard, 29, faced charges of murder and two counts of aggravated assault in the death of Lorenzo Vasquez-Lopez, 41.
Leonard is the third suspect in the case to have a preliminary hearing in Columbus Recorder’s Court. His wife Mikita Leonard, 40, had a hearing Aug. 15, and her son Antouvious Pitts III, 18, faced a judge Sept. 12.
Police confirmed the suspects were related after Leonard’s hearing Wednesday, when detective Robert Nicholas testified that witnesses identified him as one of three people traveling in a car near 47th Street and Gilbert Avenue, where someone from the car opened fire on people standing on the roadside.
Police called to the shooting around 6 p.m. found Vasquez-Lopez mortally wounded, officers said. An emergency room doctor pronounced him dead after he was rushed to the hospital.
Two other victims hit by gunfire survived, Nicholas said: One was a block east of Vasquez-Lopez; the other, shot in the torso, was a few blocks south. Neither identified William Leonard as the person who shot them, the officer said.
Under questioning by defense attorney Shevon Thomas II, Nicholas said William Leonard was charged after three other witnesses told police that Leonard was in the car with his wife and Pitts, when the shooting happened.
“They were on the scene. They were there,” Nicholas said of the three witnesses.
The detective gave no motive for the shooting, which he said was recorded on video surveillance.
Nicholas did not describe the suspects’ car, during Wednesday’s hearing, but while testifying in Pitts’ case last month, Nicholas said it was a white four-door Nissan, from which the front seat passenger shot at Vasquez-Lopez.
He said Pitts initially told police he was the front-seat passenger, but later denied that. Pitts was found to have a gun matching the caliber of shell casings found at the scene, and the firearm has been sent to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation for ballistics testing, Nicholas said.
Recorder’s Court Judge Julius Hunter found the evidence sufficient to send the case to Muscogee Superior Court, ordering William Leonard held without bond.