'Really blessed': Chillicothe driver narrowly avoided stray bullet from I-70 shootout
Belinda M. Paschal
A Chillicothe man whose vehicle was hit by a stray bullet during last week's shootout between Columbus police and three suspects on Interstate 70 said the incident felt "like something out of a movie."
Jeremiah Johnson, 41, was heading west on I-70 with his wife, two children, and a friend Thursday when he noticed his Jeep Grand Cherokee was the sole vehicle on the road. "I had just gotten on from (Route) 315. At first, I thought I'd encountered a traffic accident," he said.
"Then I saw about 30-plus officers, plus helicopters, and we were the only ones on 70 West. It was kind of a weird feeling."
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At about 4 p.m. that day, eight Columbus police offers were involved in the exchange of gunfire with three male suspects, who had stolen a Porsche SUV earlier in Whitehall. The trio used the Porsche to elude Whitehall police undercover vehicles while escaping the robbery of a Fifth Third Bank branch on Hilliard Rome Road on the Far West Side.
The shootout, which happened on the eastbound side of the highway, left one of the suspects dead and a Columbus police officer critically wounded.
When the errant bullet struck his vehicle, Johnson said he immediately knew what had happened; nevertheless, he said, it was "pretty intense" as the projectile ripped through the metal roof.
"My wife thought something had hit the car. Then my daughter actually saw the police open fire," Johnson said. "I immediately pulled over and got out, but I couldn't find the bullet hole at first. Then I looked at the roof and it was about four inches from my head."
No one in Johnson's vehicle was physically injured, though his preteen daughter is still a bit "shaken up and processing what happened," he said.
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Johnson, who was unfamiliar with the shootout saga prior to his vehicle being damaged, said he whiled away the minutes spent waiting on the roadside for police by reading news about the incident on Facebook,The Columbus Dispatch website, and other local news sites.
"I'd had absolutely no idea what was going on, but I was able to piece together the story," he said.
While the experience was a close call, Johnson acknowledged that it could have been worse.
"It's not as bad as it could have been. Had I been driving my truck, the bullet would have hit my head or chest," he said. "We're really blessed."