Ohio News

COLUMBUS, Ohio-- Columbus Police is looking for a suspect after a shooting in southwest Columbus.

Around 10:15 p.m. Friday night, officers responded to the 1500 block of Marsdale Road for a shooting.

One victim was taken to Grant Medical Center in critical condition.

Stay with 10TV and 10TV.com as this story develops.

GROVE CITY, Ohio — At least seven cases of Legionnaires' Disease have been confirmed in individuals who recently received treatment at Mount Carmel Grove City, hospital officials said Friday night.

The hospital says it is partnering with Franklin County Public Health and the Ohio Department of Health in conjunction with the Centers for Disease Control to identify the source of the bacteria. They will continue testing over the next few weeks.

In another statement Friday night, the Ohio Department of Health says the director issued an adjudication order for the Grove City branch to take immediate action to contain the outbreak. The director says if the hospital fails to take the appropriate actions, it will be ordered to cease accepting new patients.

“To protect patients, employees, and visitors, we have acted swiftly today after my team unraveled a connection between three confirmed cases of Legionnaires’ disease in former patients at Mount Carmel Grove City,” said Health Department Director Dr. Amy Acton. “Working in collaboration with Franklin County Public Health, I issued an adjudication order to immediately reduce the risk of further infection. It is our understanding that hospital officials have begun implementing the steps outlined in the order, tonight.”

The actions the hospital must take are outlined below:

• Flush all hot and cold water lines and fixtures throughout the entire seven-floor, 200-bed facility
• Implement immediate remediation practices to disinfect hot and cold water lines and fixtures
• Test and clean all ice machines
• Ensure the two on-sight cooling towers are cleaned and serviced
• Provide any and all test results to the Ohio Department of Health
• Provide water management plan to the Ohio Department of Health

"We are running additional tests on water sources throughout the hospital, and our entire water supply is undergoing supplemental disinfection. We’re confident that we can safely maintain full services of the hospital while we study this situation," a spokesperson for Mount Carmel Health System said in a statement.

Officials from the Department of Health and Franklin County Public Health will conduct an environmental health assessment of the facility Saturday morning.

In the adjudication order, the Department of Health says the first Legionnaires' case occurred one day after the hospital branch's April 28 opening and stayed at the facility through May 7. Subsequent cases stayed at the facility from May 8 through May 20. Onset cases ranged from May 12 to May 29 and were confirmed through urine antigen testing.

The hospital says while the risk of developing the disease is low in most people, individuals with chronic, underlying medical conditions are at increased risk. They are asking anyone who has been hospitalized and developed a cough, muscle aches, headaches, fever chills or shortness of breath to contact their doctor.

For more information on Legionnaires' Disease, click here.

The Mount Carmel branch in Grove City opened just over a month ago on April 28.

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio man has pleaded guilty to murder, corpse abuse and other charges in the killing and dismemberment of his former girlfriend, whose remains were found in a freezer.

Thirty-three-year-old Arturo Novoa entered his pleas Thursday on dozens of felony counts in the Youngstown-area case.

Messages seeking comment were left with Novoa's attorneys.

Novoa was charged in the slaying of 28-year-old Shannon Graves, whose limbs were found in July 2017 in a freezer at a property in Campbell, just outside Youngstown.

His sentencing is scheduled for June 14.

In a related case, prosecutors are asking a judge to vacate a plea deal for a woman charged with helping hide the remains. They allege she lied to investigators and violated the deal.

ATHENS, Ohio — A man is dead after falling from the top of a parking garage in Athens.

Shortly before 5 p.m. on Friday, the Athens Police Department was called to the scene on College Street near the parking garage for a report of an unconscious male.

When officers arrived, they were unable to assist due to the nature of the victim's injuries.

Athens Police say initial indications are that the 36-year-old resident of Athens fell from the top of the parking garage.

The Athens County Coroner pronounced the man dead at the scene.

The name of the man is being withheld until the family is notified.

The Athens Police Department Criminal Investigations Unit is conducting an investigation.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says he will be announcing his reelection campaign next month in Orlando, Florida.

Trump tweeted Friday that he will hold a June 18 rally and will be joined by first lady Melania Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and Pence's wife, Karen.

The kickoff event is symbolic, coming a week before the first Democratic presidential debates. Trump formalized his reelection effort hours after he was sworn in on Jan. 20, 2017, held his first rally in Florida four weeks later and has already raised more than $130 million for his 2020 effort.

LOGAN, Ohio — For three years, Anna Wright says she took complaints of conditions at the Hocking County Dog Shelter to county commissioners, including no air conditioning and heating.

"Every year they said that they didn't know and they said that that was absolutely ridiculous and the dogs needed heating and cooling and something would be done about it immediately," she said.

Still, Wright says nothing was ever done. Until now.

In a statement sent to 10TV from the Board of Commissioners, it says "Commissioners have taken the recent public attention concerning the Dog Shelter seriously and have taken these necessary steps to ensure that the impounded dogs are treated humanely and are housed in a safe and hygienic environment."

In order to do this, commissioners voted to cease all operations at the shelter and give all the animals to the local humane society for the immediate future.

"But, I do not think that their facility's equipped to handle county dogs on top of the animals that they already had," Wright said.

The vote to stop operations also stopped jobs.

The statement from commissioners says, "The unfortunate result of the reorganization of the Dog Warden and his duties is the abolishment of all positions associated with the Dog Warden and the Dog Shelter."

"I wasn't in it for my job," Wright said. "I was in it to increase the welfare of the dogs and help their lives."

The former Dog Warden and Wright, who served as the kennel technician, have both been laid off. The Hocking County Sheriff has assumed all duties of the warden, according to commissioners.

The statement also says "Commissioners would like to thank the conscientious citizens who brought forward their concerns regarding the dogs."

Wright says that conscientious citizen was her, and it cost her her job.

"I brought all this to public attention because I felt that the dogs deserved more," she said.

Wright says she will now take her non-profit, Save-A-Pup Shelter Care, which focuses on getting kenneled dogs vet care, and continue to fight for the same cause that cost her her job.

"It doesn't make me go away," she said. "Taking my job isn't going to make me stop because I don't believe the humane society has what they need to give these dogs a better life."

In a statement from the Hocking County Humane Society, it says it took the county animals under emergency conditions and they will be housed at their facility and kept in conditions that are required by the Ohio Revised Code. The humane society is also looking to build an addition to its facility to help accommodate both county and humane animals. They are also seeking volunteers for the business after that addition is complete.

HOUSTON (AP) — The remains of a child were found Friday near a freeway in Arkansas where a community activist says a man told him he had dumped the body of a missing 4-year-old Houston girl, police said Friday.

Houston police went to Arkansas on Friday after community activist Quanell X told authorities the man arrested in connection with the disappearance of Maleah Davis confessed he disposed of her body there just before he reported her missing in early May.

Houston Police Commander Michael Skillern, one of the officers who traveled to Arkansas, told reporters that authorities had found a child's remains in a garbage bag near Interstate 30 close to Hope.

Quanell X said he spoke on Friday in jail with Derion Vence, the ex-fiance of Maleah's mother, who had claimed Maleah was abducted. Quanell X said that Vence told him he dumped her body in Arkansas.

Sheriff James Singleton in Arkansas' Hempstead County said workers found the bag, which had a foul odor coming from it, near Hope, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) northeast of the Texas-Arkansas border.

Singleton said the medical examiner's office in Little Rock likely will have to identify the remains.

"If this is the little girl, we want to make sure that we treat it with respect and dignity," Singleton said.

At a news conference in Houston, Executive Assistant Police Chief Troy Finner said authorities won't be able to confirm if the remains are those of Maleah until an autopsy is performed.

It was unclear how long the identification process would take, Finner said.

"Do we believe that it's possibly her? Yes. But can we confirm it right now? No," Finner said.

Finner said Maleah's family had been notified of Friday's developments in the case and he expects a murder charge will be filed in the case.

"We are here to make sure that little angel receives some justice and whoever is responsible we are going to hold them accountable," he said.

Vence, 27, had claimed he, Maleah and his 2-year-old son were abducted on May 4 by a group of men in a truck. He said he and his son were freed the next day but the kidnappers kept Maleah and his silver Nissan Altima. Police said Vence's story kept changing and didn't add up.

Police arrested Vence and charged him with tampering with evidence, specifically a human corpse. He remains jailed on a $40,000 bond.

Quanell X said that during his jail visit, Vence told him Maleah is dead and he confessed he dumped the girl's body in Arkansas off the side of a road. Quanell X declined to comment on what Vence told him regarding how Maleah had died.

"One thing he wanted to make clear to me was what happened to Maleah was an accident," Quanell X said.

In a statement, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said her office has spoken with Vence's attorney and there is no agreement in the case.

"We continue to work with the Houston Police Department to bring justice for Maleah Davis," Ogg said.

Dorian Cotlar, Vence's attorney, did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.

On Friday, Cotlar filed a motion in court asking a judge to prohibit Quanell X from visiting Vence in jail, where he remains held on a $45,000 bond.

Quanell X had previously spoken on behalf of Brittany Bowens, Maleah's mother, but said he stopped being her spokesman because of inconsistencies in her story.

Child Protective Services removed Maleah and her brothers from the apartment Vence and Bowens shared in August after the girl suffered a head wound, but the children were returned in February, according to an agency spokeswoman.

Bowens could not immediately be reached for comment on Friday.

Earlier in May, Bowens told KRIV-TV she loved her children and it was "absurd" that anybody would think she had anything to do with Maleah's disappearance or with hurting her.

After a canceled court appearance by Vence on May 13, Bowens was heckled outside the courtroom by people who questioned if she had done enough to protect her daughter before her disappearance.

The landscape and look at the state’s largest university is changing.

Members of The Ohio State University’s Board of Trustees voted Friday to approve plans to move forward with what is being called the Arts District.

“What the arts bring to a place like Ohio State is irreplaceable,” said Executive Vice President and Provost, Dr. Bruce McPheron.

McPheron says the new district will sit near the Oval and include remodeled performance spaces, classrooms and a new school of music. Organizers say the addition will be a destination for both students and community members.

“A new space for music and theater and movie-image production... the impact on students is going to be phenomenal," she said.

McPheron says parts of College Road near the Ohio Union will close June first for initial utility work. The main construction will begin later this summer and the facility is slated to open in December 2021.

One man was arrested after police found weapons, drugs and other items at a home in Canal Winchester Thursday.

According to Whitehall police, the division’s Narcotics Unity along with the Columbus Division of Police INTAC Unit executed a search warrant at the home located in the 6600 block of Christopher Park Lane. The search warrant stemmed from an investigation into trafficking drugs in and around Whitehall.

According to the release, detectives seized 9 pistols, 5 rifles, 1,790 grams of marijuana, 18 grams of fentanyl, 349 Oxycontin, pills, vaping devices, body armor and $2,922.

Justin Young was arrested as a result and charged with possession of drugs.

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP) — The 12 people who were fatally shot in a Virginia Beach government building were remembered Saturday during a somber news conference and prayer vigil as officials sought to put the focus on those who died and not the gunman.

Police Chief James Cervera identified the assailant as DeWayne Craddock, who was employed for 15 years as an engineer with the city's utilities department. He declined to comment on a motive for Friday's rampage, which ended with Craddock's death in a gun battle with police. City officials uttered his name just once and said they would not mention it again.

City Manager Dave Hansen said he had worked for years with many of the dead, 11 of whom were city employees. The 12th was a contractor trying to get a permit.

Their names and photos were projected on a screen as Hansen read aloud biographical information that included their hometowns and years of service.

"They leave a void that we will never be able to fill," he said.

Chaplains and family assistance workers worked through the night to notify relatives — a job that Hansen described as "the most difficult task anyone will ever have to do."

One of the dead employees had worked for the city for 41 years. Six worked in the same department as Craddock, though authorities have declined to say if anyone was specifically targeted or if the suspect had issued threats before. The victims were found throughout the building, on three floors, police said.

Authorities have said Craddock opened fire indiscriminately. Four other people were wounded, including a police officer whose bulletproof vest saved his life.

The suspect was armed with a .45-caliber handgun with a noise suppressor, police said. Cervera said Saturday that more weapons were found at the scene and at his home.

Two law enforcement officials told The Associated Press that the gunman made multiple legal firearm purchases recently, and the guns recovered at the scene were purchased legally. The officials were not authorized to discuss an ongoing investigation publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The building was open to the public, but security passes were required to enter inner offices, conference rooms and other work areas. As a current employee, Craddock would have had the pass to enter the inner offices, Hansen said.

Asked how secure the building was, the police chief said that government buildings must balance access with security.

"It's an open government building. Citizens have the right to access open government buildings. Employees have a right to access their work site," he said.

The 11 city employees who were killed were identified as Tara Welch Gallagher, Mary Louise Gayle, Alexander Mikhail Gusev, Katherine A. Nixon, Ryan Keith Cox, Joshua A. Hardy and Michelle "Missy" Langer, all of Virginia Beach; Laquita C. Brown and Robert "Bobby" Williams, both of Chesapeake; and Richard H. Nettleton of Norfolk and Christopher Kelly Rapp of Powhatan. The 12th victim, Herbert "Bert" Snelling of Virginia Beach, was a contractor filling a permit.

Craddock appeared to have had no felony record, which would have made him eligible to purchase guns.

Joseph Scott, an engineering technician with the department of public works, said he had worked with Craddock before and had a brief interaction with him Friday. Scott said he saw him in the men's restroom about five minutes before the shooting.

"He was in there brushing his teeth, which he always did after he ate," Scott said. "I said 'Hey, how you doing? What are you doing this weekend?' It was just a brief conversation."

Scott said he left for the day right after and learned of the shooting when a co-worker and then his son called him asking if he was OK.

"I couldn't believe that it happened," he said.

Scott was among about 200 people who attended a Saturday prayer vigil for those killed. The crowd included city workers, community leaders and residents who just wanted to offer hugs and condolences. Many people openly sobbed or dabbed their eyes with tissues. Gov. Ralph Northam also attended.

"We grieve with you," Northam said. "We are all in this together."

Scott said he, his wife and several other people prayed for the shooter.

"He was a human too, and his family is hurting too," Scott said. "He's not evil ... he was just another guy who had problems."

Craddock's neighbors said police swarmed the neighborhood of modest townhomes Friday in Virginia Beach. Some said he had lived there for at least 10 years.

___

Associated Press writers Regina Garcia Cano, Michael Biesecker, Michael Balsamo and Eric Tucker in Washington, D.C.; Denise Lavoie and Michael Kunzelman in Virginia Beach, Virginia; and Jonathan Drew in Durham, North Carolina, contributed to this report.

DELAWARE COUNTY, Ohio — Stockhands Horses for Healing aims to help children with any disabilities or developmental challenges and first responders and veterans who may be going through emotional or physical issues.

Stockhands started in 2014 and is a non-profit organization. Their goal is to help create a non-judgmental atmosphere where people can be around others who may be going through similar situations.

The children's lessons are slightly different than the adults — they focus on core strength, balance and coordination. Adults, first responders and veterans can learn how to groom or tack up a horse properly.

Co-founder Lisa Benton said these skills can help people both physically and mentally. She said the relationship between a horse and a person taking time to care for them or be around them is rewarding.

She said it gives children or adults a place where they can come and be around people who may fully understand and experience the same situations.

Matthew Mankins has been coming to Stockhands for 15 months. He said he made the decision to go after being diagnosed with PTSD.

He is a veteran and was a first responder for Hanover Fire in Licking County. He said when he first got diagnosed, he didn't know exactly what PTSD was.

"It was a lot of emotional things happening due to responses due to stimuli around me. To storms, to thunder, to lightning, to fireworks, to certain smells," Mankins said.

He said coming here and meeting people who have become family and helped him gain the confidence to get through his challenges.

"A lot of veterans and first responders, we hide who we are and hide those systems we try to be tough and when you're around people like you who understand you can talk to that aren't judging you can just be yourself," Mankins said.

Stockhands offers a special first responder and veterans night every second and fourth Friday of the month. The programs are free for first responders and veterans, so Stockhands relies heavily on donations and sponsorships to take care of their facility and horses.

The horses are donated but it may not be a permanent home for them. Benton said the horses need to be able to be active and if they aren't, the facility says it makes sure to always find them a good home.

Benton said they are in the beginning stages of launching a capitol campaign to expand their facility and provide more services. The services will include making their facility fully handicap-accessible and adding a mounting lift.

Stockhands Horses for Healing wants to make sure they are providing for anyone, whether it's physically or mentally.