A barrage of gunfire between two parties injured one man and struck a school bus unloading children in Columbus Monday afternoon.
According to Columbus Police Chief Joseph Daughtry, officers responded to the area of Martin Luther King, Jr. shortly after 3 p.m. Multiple individuals in a dark-colored Dodge Charger reportedly fired upon 18-year-olds Martus Meeks and Enry Meadows who were outside a residence.
The pair are said to have returned fire at the car, striking a nearby school bus’s tire that was dropping off from school. None of those on the bus were hurt, which included 10 children, but Meadows was hit in the exchange and taken to a local hospital to be treated for non-life-threatening injuries.
School administration was contacted after the shooting, prompting the district’s crisis management plan to ensure students were safe and to reunite them with their parents as quickly as possible.
“The administration got here. They made sure the kids were safe,” Daughtry told The Columbus Dispatch. “They started contacting parents because, as you know, I can tell you all day the kids are fine, but until parents lay eyes on their children, they’re not trying to hear that. It shows the school district practiced this because it was like clockwork.”
Both Meeks and Meadows face charges of shooting into an occupied vehicle and discharging a firearm inside the city limits. Neither Meeks nor the unidentified shooters have been located as of this article.
Those with information concerning the incident or that could lead to the capture of the suspects involved are encouraged to contact Golden Triangle Crime Stoppers at (800)530-7151.
