(Editor’s note: On July 2, 2025, Josiah Cocroft pleaded guilty to aggravated robbery in connection with the Jan. 12, 2021, shooting death of Kiran Hill. Franklin County Common Pleas Court Judge Jeff Brown sentenced Cocroft on Aug. 7 to six to seven and a half years in prison.)
A teenager was killed and another teen arrested after an attempted robbery in North Linden resulted in the 12th homicide in 12 days in Columbus.
Police were called at about 7:25 p.m. Tuesday on a report of a shooting at the E&E Market on the 700 block of East Hudson Street, just east of Interstate 71.
When officers arrived, they found 18-year-old Kiran Hill, of the East Side, with a gunshot wound. Hill was taken in critical condition to OhioHealth Riverside Methodist Hospital, where he died at 7:48 p.m. Tuesday.
Officers also found a 33-year-old man at the scene who told officers that Hill and 17-year-old Josiah Cocroft, of the Southeast Side, had attempted to rob him outside the market.
The man, a licensed concealed carry permit holder whose name police are withholding, told officers that Hill pulled a firearm and he pulled his and they exchanged gunfire. Hill was mortally wounded. The man remained at the scene with Cocroft until police arrived.
Cocroft was arrested and charged with a delinquency count of murder in Franklin County Juvenile Court.
The attempted robbery victim is not being identified by police and is not facing any charges at this time.
Hill’s death is the city’s 12th homicide in the first 12 days of 2021.
Dispatch reporter Ken Gordon contributed to this report.
bbruner@dispatch.com
@bethany_bruner
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Attempted robbery results in 12th homicide in 12 days in Columbus
Reporting by Bethany Bruner / The Columbus Dispatch
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