Witnesses testified yesterday in the Columbus serial highway shooter case. The suspect was in court facing charges of felonious assault for the shooting of a house.
The shooting, which occurred at 901 Brown Rd. in the early morning of Dec. 15, is one of 24 shootings the alleged shooter, Charles A. McCoy Jr., is suspected of targeting.
Ronald L. Edwards, 35, a resident of 901 Brown Rd., testified yesterday. He said he was falling asleep on Dec. 15 about 12:20 a.m., when a loud noise startled him.
“I heard a noise, I thought it was a car back-firing or a tire blowing out,” Edwards said.
He and his sister, Kathleen Edwards, looked out of the upstairs windows but did not notice a vehicle or other cause for the noise, and they decided to go back to bed, Edwards said.
The following afternoon Ronald Edwards went to clean the upstairs bathroom and discovered damage to the tub and a bullet near the drain.
“I pulled back the shower curtain and I saw something. I thought it was a bat at first, but when I looked closer, I saw that it was a bullet hole,” Edwards said.
The bullet hole in the bathtub was approximately seven feet from where his sister was lying on her bed on the other side of a wall, he said.
David Ratliff, of the Franklin Township Police Department, responded to the shooting. Ratliff retrieved the flattened bullet and copper jacket that Ronald Edwards had removed from the tub and placed in a empty pill container.
“They appeared to be from a 9 mm,” Ratliff said.
Two 9 mm handguns were confiscated from McCoy Jr., by his parents and were later handed over to police by McCoy Jr.’s father.
“It was important to perpetuate the testimony for future purposes,” said Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O’Brien. “Testimony from preliminary hearings can be used if witnesses are not available to testify.”
McCoy Jr.’s mother, Ardith McCoy, said she asked her ex-husband to remove guns from the home she shared with McCoy Jr. in August, when she found a 9 mm in his room. In December, McCoy Sr. removed two shotguns Ardith McCoy had found under McCoy Jr.’s bed.
In February, Ardith McCoy found pieces to another 9 mm under her son’s mattress and confronted him. The parents had not told McCoy Jr. when confiscating the first 9 mm in August because they did not want to anger him, McCoy Sr. said.
“I told him I did not want guns in the house. I asked him what he needed a gun for,” Ardith McCoy said.
Ardith McCoy said her son told her he needed it for protection and he thought someone had broken in and stolen the last gun.
McCoy Sr. gave the 9 mm handguns to police after being contacted by Detective Chris Floyd of the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office. Authorities had received a tip regarding McCoy and his parents’ confiscation of his guns.
McCoy Sr. also said he had found bullet casings in his son’s car near the end of last year.
“I found two spent 9 mm shells right inside the door,” he said.
McCoy Sr. said he has not been able to find the shells since.
Mark Hardy, a ballistics expert from the Columbus Division of Police, testified that two bullets recovered from the Brown Road home matched individual characteristics of bullets fired from one of McCoy Jr.’s 9 mm handguns.
“I associate both of them with this gun,” Hardy said.
Ballistic evidence also connects the gun to several of the other shootings, including the shot that killed Gail Knisley, 62, in November.
The defense questioned Hardy’s conclusions of the bullet.
“Are you aware there are cases in this country where ballistic experts testify for the defense and the prosecution?” said Andrew Haney, a defense attorney for McCoy Jr. “That there are cases where ballistics experts disagree?
“The last three or four cases that the defense has asked experts to review my findings, they have agreed with mine,” Hardy said.
Judge Michael Brandt found the evidence presented to be sufficient to hold McCoy Jr. The defense did not request bail.
The grand jury will continue to hear evidence as the prosecution builds its case against McCoy Jr. and contemplates adding additional charges.
