Columbus Ohio man arrested for murder in plot to kill security officer
YOUNGSTOWN OH March 19 2021
Magistrate Anthony Sertick Jr. set bond at $1 million Wednesday for Erik Jenkins, 25, of Columbus, who is charged in the March 4 murder of Thomas C. Williams, 34 while trying o kill a security officer.
Gene Fehr, assistant Youngstown law director, noted that Jenkins turned himself in at the jail Tuesday after learning that police charged him with the murder.
Also, Jenkins was convicted in 2017 of improperly handling firearms in a motor vehicle in Mahoning County.
The fatal shooting took place in the parking lot of King’s Court tavern, 3223 South Ave.
At a news conference Tuesday, Capt. Rod Foley of the Youngstown Police Department said detectives believe Jenkins was apparently trying to kill a security guard working the rear door of the tavern, formerly known as the Coconut Grove. Jenkins fired about a dozen times.
The security guard fired back.
Foley said it’s possible the security guard’s bullets killed Williams, but that won’t be known until forensic analysis determines which bullets killed him.
Either way, Jenkins would be responsible for the murder because he “initiated this whole shooting by walking up in the parking lot and just shooting (about a dozen shots) at the security guard,” Foley said.
