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

As Faisal Darod was walked out of a U.S. District courtroom Monday afternoon in handcuffs, he saw uniformed police everywhere.

More than 50 uniformed officers from Columbus police and other central Ohio jurisdictions, nearly two dozen of whom were not able to get a seat in the courtroom, made their presence felt in the hallway, silently watching Darod pass.

The 23-year-old North Linden resident is one of two suspects facing federal charges in a crime spree that included a bank robbery and shootout that left an alleged accomplice dead and a Columbus police officer critically wounded.

During a court hearing on Monday afternoon in the federal courthouse in Columbus, Darod was ordered to be held without bond by Magistrate Judge Kimberly Jolson pending a formal detention hearing that is scheduled for Wednesday. Darod's first name had previously been misspelled on court records as "Fazsal" but was corrected during his first court appearance on Monday.

The U.S. Attorney's office for the Southern District of Ohio has already said they intend to ask that Darod be held without bond until his trial.

The other defendant charged in the case, 20-year-old Aden A. Jama, of Reynoldsburg, was scheduled to have a hearing Monday afternoon in Illinois, where attorneys there are also expected to request Jama be held without bond. Then, the process will begin to extradite Jama, who was arrested Saturday afternoon while trying to take a flight from Chicago's O'Hare International Airport to Turkey, back to Columbus.

Both men are currently 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.

Darod and Jama are accused of being part of a trio of men who stole a Porsche Cayenne SUV at gunpoint around 2:15 p.m. Thursday from the Byers Imports car lot at 401 N. Hamilton Road in Whitehall. Around 4 p.m. that day, they are accused of taking about $90,000 during an armed robbery at a Fifth Third Bank branch at 2455 Hilliard Rome Road on Columbus' Far West Side.

Timeline of crime spree events: Timeline: How bank robbery, shooting that injured Columbus officer happened

The Byers dealership had provided GPS coordinates on the stolen Porsche SUV, and Whitehall police had followed it to the bank and attempted to block it in. However, body camera video from Whitehall police shows the Porsche ramming one of the vehicles and then speeding away.

About seven minutes later, Columbus police officers located the vehicle, which was on Interstate 70 eastbound near West Mound Street and gave pursuit. The vehicle stopped in the middle of the I-70 east lanes near West Mound Street in South Franklinton, where police say at least one person inside the vehicle began shooting at officers and eight officers returned fire.

One Columbus police officer, who has not been identified, was hit by a bullet that entered the upper part of a leg. He was rushed by his partner in critical condition to OhioHealth Grant Medical Center, Downtown, where he underwent emergency surgery and was later upgraded to stable condition.

One suspect who was inside the vehicle, identified Monday by the Franklin County Coroner's office as Abdisamad Ismail, 19, died at the scene of the shooting.

The two other suspects, now identified as Darod and Jama, ran from the scene on foot over a hillside from I-70 into the area of Mount Calvary Cemetery and the Franklin County Children's Services building in South Franklinton, kicking off a massive manhunt that involved dozens of law enforcement officers, search dogs and the Columbus police helicopter unit.

Darod was arrested around 1:30 a.m. Friday outside a home in North Linden. Jama was arrested Saturday afternoon at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport while trying to board a flight to Turkey.

Darod's cellphone seized by authorities reportedly included he had been searching for flights out of the country.

According to the complaints filed in the case, Columbus police officers were able to look at cellphone tower data from the area of the robbery of the Byers Imports lot located in Whitehall, as well as the area of the Fifth Third Bank branch on Hilliard Rome Road that was robbed.

One cellphone number was shown to be at both locations at the times of the robberies and police were able to track that phone to a CashApp account linked to Darod, which was confirmed in other police reports related to Darod as being his phone number.

Additional online searches of social media accounts resulted in the location of photos of Darod wearing a shirt similar to one worn by one of the suspects who fled the scene of the shooting, according to court records.

Darod was arrested inside a vehicle that was stopped near the area of his home on the 1200 block of John G. McCoy Circle. Court records state that Darod admitted to being in the stolen Porsche on Thursday.

However, court records state that Darod reportedly told investigators that Ismail had "pointed a gun at him and demanded that he drive them to the Fifth Third Bank."

Darod also said Ismail "told him if he left the car he would start shooting," according to court records. Darod was initially released so additional investigation could be done.

Darod also reportedly told investigators he had been hanging out with Jama in Reynoldsburg prior to meeting up with Ismail.

Court records said another Fifth Third Bank, located at 1669 Fishinger Road in Upper Arlington, had been robbed on Wednesday by suspects in a black Chevy Corvette. According to the complaint, the Corvette matched a vehicle that had been stolen earlier in the week in Minerva Park. Darod's phone also was found to have been at both of those scenes, court records state.

During a search of the Porsche after the shooting, police reportedly found a Corvette key fob inside a bag that held the approximately $90,000 money taken from the Fifth Third Bank branch on Thursday. The bag also appeared consistent with one seen in photos on Darod's social media profiles, according to court records.

Darod was arrested a second time early Friday morning outside a residence on East Weber Road. He is currently being held in the Franklin County jail and is expected to have an initial appearance in U.S. District Court on Monday afternoon. The U.S. Attorney's office has indicated they will be asking that Darod be held in detention pending his trial.

The complaint filed against Jama states video from a women's shelter where Darod and Jama fled showed the men walking into the shelter before being turned away. Court records said Darod and Jama spoke 12 times on the phone between July 3 and Thursday.

Cellphone data also showed Darod going from the shooting scene to a hotel on Morse Road, where a vehicle was seen dropping Darod and Jama off. Hotel surveillance footage shows the two men together in the hotel lobby wearing the same clothing they were believed to be wearing at the time of the shooting.

A text message from Darod to Jama's phone number that was timestamped at 1:33 p.m. Thursday included the address for the Byers Imports car lot, which was 41 minutes before the robbery was reported there.

On Monday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Noah Litton would not comment on whether Darod, Jama and Ismail were part of a larger criminal organization.

Efforts by The Dispatch to speak with the families of the three suspects on Monday were not successful.

Brian Steel, a Columbus police officer and executive vice president for the Fraternal Order of Police Capital City Lodge No. 9, said Monday that the officer wounded Thursday remains hospitalized in stable condition. The dozens of officers who had gathered at the federal courthouse on Monday were planning to head to his bedside at OhioHealth Grant Medical Center afterward to continue to show their support to him and his family.

"A bullet does massive damage to internal organs," Steel said. "He has a long, long road to recovery."

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Steel said police are confident in the ability of federal justice system to hold the suspects accountable.

"The weight of the U.S. government is about to come down on him," Steel said of Darod.

Columbus police Chief Elaine Bryant, who was also at Monday's hearing, said the toll of having two shooting incidents involving officers within 72 hours — the I-70 shootout and Saturday's shooting involving Columbus police and a Franklin County Sheriff's deputy and a gunman outside a Walgreen's — is something that officers are mindful of, but having suspects in custody helps.

"We want justice for our officers, city residents and for our men and women in blue who go out every day to protect Columbus," the chief said. "Obviously (these shootings) have had a toll on officers, involved and officers across the department. But we're going to do everything we can to recover from this."

Related article on Marsy's Law: Why haven't the Columbus police officers involved in last week’s shootout been named?

Also on Monday, Columbus police formally denied a public records request from The Dispatch that sought to obtain police body camera video from the I-70 shooting. The Division of Police cited several sections of Ohio law related to Marsy's Law, which protects the rights of crime victims, as well as sections of public records law that provide an exception for records that show grievous physical harm to a first responder.

Dispatch reporters Jordan Laird and Jack Nimesheim contributed to this story.

bbruner@dispatch.com

@bethany_bruner

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: New details in Columbus bank robbery, shooting that injured officer