Columbus Police defend tactics after two undercover stings end in shootings
COLUMBUS, OH – On Monday, Columbus Police defended their undercover SWAT tactic designed to catch armed robbers, which resulted in two young suspects shot and one killed last week.
The covert operation, which has been used at least ten times according to a police commander, involves setting up person-to-person cash sales with anonymous buyers or sellers online. SWAT sends a “decoy” officer to make the exchange and possibly get held-up at gunpoint, while one or more “cover” officers stand-by with guns at the ready.
Julius Ervin Tate, Jr., 16, was shot and killed on Mount Vernon Avenue last Friday after Columbus Police say they set up an anonymous meeting with him based on his online posting for a personal sale. Police have said Tate, Jr. was carrying a handgun and pointed it at the “decoy” officer. Veteran officer Eric Richards, 27, fired the fatal shot, according to a CPD spokesperson.
Two days earlier, Kyler Collier, 18 was shot when police say he acted similarly as he encountered a decoy officer using the same tactic.
Police said Monday that both Collier and Tate, Jr. had been identified as targets for the covert tactic because they had used the same phone number in previous robberies – though officers didn't know the identities or ages of the two suspects just based upon the online ads.
“You’re asking if we knew the suspects were 16 and 18-years-old, and the answer is no,” said Columbus Police sergeant Shaun Laird on Monday.
Previously, Julius Tate Jr.’s family has questioned why and how the 16-year-old was shot. Kyler Collier’s mother had the same question Monday.
“He’s not that kind of kid,” said Shameka Howze. “I've never seen with him a gun. We don't have guns in the house!”
Columbus Police said they were confident in the results of the raid, and are planning to charge Collier once an investigation is complete and he's released from hospital treatment for gunshot wounds.
“These suspects are really putting the public in jeopardy, and we can't sit idly by for our own safety and ignore that,” said investigative deputy chief Tim Becker, vowing that the covert “online sale” tactic by SWAT will continue as long as the threat of similar armed robberies persists in the city. Becker said in one recent case, a young mother brought her two children to the site of a planned sale – and was pistol-whipped by an armed robber.
Police refused to say what sort of gun Collier and Tate were shot with, or how the “cover” officer was positioned to fire upon the suspects.
Officers involved in both shootings have been placed on administrative leave, pending an investigation of the shootings.
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