Ohio Father-To-Be Attempting To Stop Robbery Fatally Shot By Man Mistakenly Released From Jail, Police Say

A suspect wrongly released from jail is now accused of fatally shooting a father-to-be during a robbery in Ohio, police said.

David Johnson III was booked into the Franklin County jail in connection with the murder of 21-year-old Andrew Combs at a Sunoco gas station in Columbus, WSYX reported.

According to the station, on Dec. 13, Combs attempted to intervene in a friend getting robbed when he was shot in front of his pregnant girlfriend, Victoria Perez, who he had just gone Christmas shopping with before the incident.

“It’s playing back in my head of him screaming,” she said of the father of her unborn son. “You can’t unsee that. It’s just something you can’t un-see.”

Police recovered surveillance video from the crime scene and identified Johnson as a suspect in the shooting case.

According to WSYX, Johnson had been in custody in Jackson Pike Franklin County Correction Center after he was allegedly linked to the death of his son as well as the 2021 murder of a man, but he was recently released from jail in November because of “human error.”

A second suspect, 18-year-old Caiden Allen, was also charged in connection with the shooting, WBNS reported.

“I would tell my son that his dad was a hero,” Perez said of the victim. “And I want him to grow up and go into the force and be someone that can help people, just like his dad did.”

She added: “He loved everyone. He loved his friends. He would do anything for his friends. Just like he did that night. He would do anything for his friends.”