Columbus police arrest two, including teen, in unrelated homicide cases
Columbus police arrested two people, including an 18-year-old, in connection to unrelated homicides that occurred earlier this year.
Both suspects had their first appearances on Thursday in Franklin County Municipal Court.
According to court records, Columbus police allege that on Oct. 17, 33-year-old Keith Hairston, of the Northeast Side, fatally shot 38-year-old Anthony Cato.
Around 2:15 a.m. that morning, police got a call about a shooting at an apartment on the 2600 block of Divot Place on the city's Northeast Side. When officers arrived, they found Cato lying outside the apartment.
Court records said officers asked Cato where the shooting had taken place and Cato had pointed to the apartment. Cato was taken by squad to OhioHealth Grant Medical Center where he died a few hours later.
Police executed a search warrant at the apartment Cato had pointed to, according to court records, and found two firearms and a shell casing inside. Laboratory testing was done on the firearms and it was determined that one of the guns found in the apartment had been used to shoot Cato. DNA on that firearm was linked to Hairston, according to court records.
Hairston's last known address is listed on court records as being the apartment where the shooting took place.
In a separate case, Columbus police have charged an 18-year-old with murder in connection to the shooting death of a grandmother.
Around 8:45 p.m. on Nov. 9, Columbus police received a ShotSpotter alert from the 800 block of Berkeley Road in the Driving Park neighborhood. Officers who responded to the scene found 63-year-old Marvita McCaskill, who lived in the area, with a gunshot wound. McCaskill died from her injuries.
Court records show 18-year-old Denzell Reed, whose last known address is in the Driving Park neighborhood, has been charged with murder in the case.
An affidavit of probable cause, a sworn document filed with the court outlining the reasons for charges being filed against a suspect, is currently under seal and not publicly available, according to court records.
Reed is charged with murder, according to the charging document, while attempting to commit an aggravated robbery.
McCaskill was a grandmother and great-grandmother and had reportedly been returning home from a birthday party for a relative when she was killed.
Both Hairston and Reed had their bonds set at $1 million during hearings on Thursday and are currently being held in the Franklin County jail.
bbruner@dispatch.com
@bethany_bruner
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus police arrest two, including teen, in unrelated homicides