23-year-old dad dies after being shot in Ohio gym, cops say. ‘He didn’t deserve that’
Gunshots rang out inside an Ohio gym on Tuesday, March 28, resulting in the death of a 23-year-old father, police say.
The Columbus Division of Police said the shooting happened around 8:45 p.m. at an Esporta Fitness on the west side of the city. Officers were dispatched for reports of a shooting, and they found the 23-year-old victim suffering from multiple gunshot wounds, police said.
The victim, identified as Tabias Cunningham, died about an hour later at a hospital, according to a police report.
Police said the shooter, who has not been publicly identified, fled in a small white vehicle.
One gymgoer who described the shooting scene said the gunshots initially sounded like someone dropping weights.
“We realized it was like five or six shots and we ran out the back exit,” Amar Singh told WCMH. “It registered in my mind after like the fourth shot and that’s when we started running and, for me, I kind of got, like, numb. I wasn’t thinking straight.”
The shooting happened at the gym’s basketball court, according to The Columbus Dispatch. The facility said it closed until Wednesday morning “due to disinfecting,” the publication reported.
Cunningham was a father to a young girl, social media posts show. The mother of his child said they had recently been planning their next family meal together.
“Thank you for always being there for us and being a great father,” Shakira Virgil-Rodriguez said in a Facebook post. “Can’t believe this (is) even happening.”
Others also mourned Cunningham’s death, including Keyaundria Saniya Tate, who said she was unable to wrap her head around his killing.
“I know he didn’t deserve that,” she said in the Facebook post.
Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to contact Columbus police at 614-645-4730.
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