Federal grand jury indicts I-70 police shootout suspects in Hilliard bank robbery

Peter Gill, Columbus Dispatch
Updated ·2 min read
U.S. Attorney Kenneth Parker, right, announces during a July 8 news conference in Columbus a third arrest stemming from the July 6 shootout with Columbus police on Interstate 70. From left: Assistant U.S. Attorney Noah Litton, U.S. Deputy Marshal Dan Deville, U.S. Marshal Michael Black and ATF Special Agent in Charge Daryl McCormick.
U.S. Attorney Kenneth Parker, right, announces during a July 8 news conference in Columbus a third arrest stemming from the July 6 shootout with Columbus police on Interstate 70. From left: Assistant U.S. Attorney Noah Litton, U.S. Deputy Marshal Dan Deville, U.S. Marshal Michael Black and ATF Special Agent in Charge Daryl McCormick.

A federal grand jury has indicted two central Ohio men with felony charges related to a spree of bank and other robberies in the Columbus area earlier this month.

Aden Abdullahi Jama, 20, of Reynoldsburg, and Faisal Mohamed Darod, 23, of North Linden in Columbus, are charged with aiding and abetting a bank robbery and aiding and abetting the use and carrying of a firearm during a crime of violence. They each face a maximum sentence of life in prison, if convicted.

U.S. marshals arrested Darod in the early morning hours of July 7 outside his Columbus home. Jama was arrested the following day at Chicago O’Hare International Airport as he tried to board a flight to Turkey. Jama and Darod have been in custody since their arrests.

Federal prosecutors initially charged both men with identical charges July 10, but now that a grand jury has indicted them, those previous cases have been consolidated into one, a federal court spokesperson said Friday. Darod was initially scheduled to appear Monday for a preliminary hearing, but that hearing is now canceled.

On Friday, U.S. marshals also returned Jama to the Southern District of Ohio, though it was unclear Friday afternoon where he was being held, the spokesperson said.

Authorities accused the men of robbing a Fifth Third Bank on July 6 in Hilliard and taking about $90,000.

Later that day, Columbus police officers and three people in a stolen Porsche Cayenne SUV were in a shootout on Interstate 70 east near Downtown Columbus. A Columbus police officer suffered severe injuries, and a third person in the car, Abdisamad Ismail, 19, was killed.

Police vehicles on I-70 at Mound Street near Downtown surround a stolen Porsche Cayenne SUV, just beneath the I-71 South sign, as officers responded to a Columbus police officer shot by robbery suspects on July 6.
Police vehicles on I-70 at Mound Street near Downtown surround a stolen Porsche Cayenne SUV, just beneath the I-71 South sign, as officers responded to a Columbus police officer shot by robbery suspects on July 6.

Investigators said that Darod alleged that Ismail put him up to the robbery by holding him at gunpoint.

The indictment does not include other robberies that happened around the same time, such as July 5 at a Fifth Third Bank in Upper Arlington and July 6 at a car lot in Whitehall.

More: Suspect claimed he was held at gunpoint by other suspect during Columbus bank robbery

More: Timeline: How bank robbery, shooting that injured Columbus officer happened

Peter Gill covers immigration, new American communities and religion for The Dispatch in partnership with Report for America. You can support work like his with a tax-deductible donation to Report for America at: bit.ly/3fNsGaZ.

pgill@dispatch.com

@pitaarji

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: I-70 police shootout suspects indicted in Hilliard bank robbery