Following a month-long investigation, the Pickaway County Sheriff’s Office announced that 19-year-old Layle R. Mohler was arrested in connection with a shooting that left another teen injured. The update on Mohler's capture was posted on the Sheriff's Office's official social media page. According to Sheriff Matthew O. Hafey, deputies responded to reports of a shooting at an Ashville property back on December 8, 2025, where they found Layton A. Waugh, 19, with a chest wound. A collaborative effort involving multiple departments eventually led to Mohler's arrest warrant.
On the day of the incident, the Sheriff's Office dispatch received the critical call and rapidly saw Waugh hurried to Ohio Health Grant Medical Center by EMS, where he later stabilized and was released. Law enforcement quickly set out to diligently piece together the puzzle, interviewing multiple witnesses and seizing a suspect vehicle in Columbus—a Silver Saturn Ion noted for its distinctive black front hood fender. This vehicle was forensically processed by BCI at the Pickaway County Sheriff’s Office on December 10. In the course of the investigation, authorities also involved the Ohio State Highway Patrol Computer Crimes Unit to analyze digital evidence.
The investigation yielded sufficient evidence to issue arrest warrants for two individuals: 20-year-old Tyler A. Stepp and Layle R. Mohler, both from Columbus, for charges including Complicity to Felonious Assault and Complicity to Aggravated Robbery. In an earlier update, Sheriff Hafey had confirmed that Stepp was apprehended on December 17, but Mohler remained at large until now. Acknowledging the role of interagency collaboration, Sheriff Hafey expressed his gratitude towards the Columbus Police Department and the Pickaway County Sheriff’s Office Investigative Division for their "continuous efforts and hard work on this case."
The case, which has been closely followed by the community, saw significant progress with Mohler's arrest on January 6, 2026. Critical information about this case was made available through the Pickaway County Sheriff's Office Facebook post. As the legal process unfolds, the Sheriff’s Office continues to ask anyone with further information on this case to come forward and assist in ensuring a complete account of the events leading up to the violent altercation. Detectives can be directly contacted, a gesture that echoes the spirit of community and the pursuit of justice.
