Columbus police release name of officer who shot gunman outside Merion Village restaurant

Sheridan Hendrix, The Columbus Dispatch
·1 min read
Officer Thomas Hammel, who has been with the Columbus Division of Police for three years, was identified late Friday afternoon as the man who shot gunman Raymond Richard Hampton, 26, of the South Side, early Thursday morning in the dumpster area in the parking lot outside Tee Jaye's Country Place, located at 1385 Parsons Ave., in Merion Village. Hampton is expected to survive. He faces three counts of felonious assault on officers, none of whom were injured.

The Columbus Division of Police late Friday afternoon released the name of the officer who shot a gunman who officers say fired at them early Thursday morning in the foggy parking lot of a Merion Village restaurant.

Officer Thomas Hammel, who has been with the Columbus Division of Police for three years, shot 26-year-old Raymond Richard Hampton, of the South Side, in the dumpster area in the parking lot outside Tee Jaye's Country Place, located at 1385 Parsons Ave.

Police responded around 5:15 a.m. to the restaurant after receiving an alert of gunfire from the ShotSpotter gunshot detection system of gunfire there. Responding officers made multiple attempts to talk Hampton into putting his gun down.

Hampton fired the gun a couple times after police arrived, but when he fired at police Hammel shot him, police said.

Body camera video of shooting

Hampton was rushed to OhioHealth Grant Medical Center in critical condition. He was later upgraded to stable condition and is expected to survive. No officers were injured.

The man was originally taken to OhioHealth Grant Medical Center in critical condition but was later upgraded to stable condition. No officers were injured.

Hampton is facing three counts of felonious assault.

This was the most recent shooting involving Columbus police in which a person was injured since the death of Donovan Lewis on Aug. 30. Lewis, 20, was shot one time in the abdomen by officer Rickey Anderson while Columbus police were serving an arrest warrant on him at his apartment on the 3200 block of Sullivant Avenue on the Hilltop.

The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation is investigating both officer-involved shootings per city policy.

shendrix@dispatch.com

@sheridan120

Sheridan Hendrix is a higher education reporter for The Columbus Dispatch. Sign up for her Mobile Newsroom newsletter here and Extra Credit, her education newsletter, here.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus police release officer's name who shot man outside restaurant