A Columbus police officer was the victim of friendly fire from another officer while responding to a domestic dispute July 14 at an apartment homes complex on the city’s Northeast Side, a police spokesman said.
Sgt. James Fuqua said officers responded just after 6 p.m. to a domestic dispute in the 2600 block of Divot Place off Wedge Road, just south of Agler Road, in the Ambience Villas Apartment Homes.
When they arrived, the officers encountered a black Rottweiler dog, Fuqua said.
“An interaction occurred between one of the officers and the dog,” Fuqua said, saying he was not sure for certain what happened and that would be part of the investigation. That officer attempted to shoot the dog and ended up shooting another officer, he said, but declined to say where the wounded officer was struck.
The wounded officer was transported in non-life-threatening condition by medics with two Columbus police cruisers and a fire division vehicle following, all with lights on, along Interstates 270 and 670 to OhioHealth Grant Medical Center, Downtown.
Fuqua would not say how many years the two officers involved have been with the Division of Police.
Fuqua said the dog was also struck by the gunfire, but media on the scene said the dog was walking freely and did not appear to be injured. Franklin County Animal Control was on scene to take the dog.
No one was charged in the domestic dispute as it was determined to have been a verbal argument, Fuqua said.
Columbus requires that any officer-involved shooting be referred to the Ohio Attorney General’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation for investigation.
Reporter Shahid Meighan can be reached at smeighan@dispatch.com, at ShahidMeighan on X, and at shahidthereporter.dispatch.com on Bluesky.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus police officer attempting to shoot dog wounds fellow officer
Reporting by Shahid Meighan, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
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By Shahid Meighan, Columbus Dispatch | USA TODAY Network
