Trish Bennett, Editor
ASHVILLE – Village police have identified 16-year-old Sam Nicholson as the victim of a fatal shooting on Jefferson Avenue early Sunday morning.
According to Chief Doug Clark, Ashville Police Department, investigators have identified a suspect and are actively seeking that person for questioning.
Nicholson was an Ashville boy, Clark said, and he was staying at the apartment of a friend at 212 Jefferson Ave. when the shooting occurred.
Clark said the resident of the apartment was sleeping upstairs about 5:30 a.m. Sunday when he heard what he thought was gunfire.
“He said he didn’t know if he was dreaming or what he heard, so he came downstairs and saw Sammy laying on the floor,” Clark said.
When the resident went to check on Nicholson, he told police he was attacked from behind.
“He said a guy came up behind him and put him in a chokehold,” Clark said. “He was able to break free and flee the apartment. The guy then left, but he didn’t know what direction.”
According to reports, the resident ran across the street to his sister’s home and told her to call 911, then went back to his own apartment.
In the recording of the first 911 call, the sister reported there was a break-in at 212 Jefferson Ave., Apartment B.
“There was a break-in,” she said. “I just got woke up by my brother. His back is all bloody. I don’t know what’s going on.”
The dispatcher confirmed officers were en route; then about four minutes later, the sister called back requesting medics at the scene.
“I also need an ambulance,” she said. “I guess there was gunshots fired. …My brother ran over to my house, said he heard shots fired, somebody wrestled him, and his back’s all tore up…”
Clark said Nicholson was declared dead at the scene.
The case remains under investigation by the Ashville Police Department with the assistance of a detective from the Pickaway County Sheriff’s Office and agents from the Ohio Attorney General’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI).
This article originally appeared on The Pickaway News Journal
