A quiet yesterday on Columbus' South Side did not last long after SWAT teams and a police helicopter descended on a wooded stretch off South High Street, searching for an armed suspect who had taken off on foot. The hunt unfolded beside busy businesses and a large homeless encampment as ground units locked down the area and built a tight perimeter.
According to WSYX/ABC6, officers put out a citywide "10-3" emergency call after an incident near 3200 South High Street, then zeroed in on the woods behind commercial properties that include an Advance Auto Parts and a Walmart. The station reports that at least one officer fired their weapon before the suspect ran, and that officers later arrested a man identified as Marquan Dickerson in the 4600 block of Moss Court.
Aerial support and the scale of the response
The heavy response from above was no accident. Columbus' aviation unit has been outfitted with new Bell 505 helicopters and upgraded camera systems that officers say let air crews track high-priority calls and feed live intel straight to the ground. Spectrum News 1 reported in May that the aviation unit now responds to nearly 5,000 calls each year.
The city’s emergency vehicle directive lists the 10-codes that qualify as emergencies and spell out when lights, sirens and specialized units can be deployed. Columbus Division of Police policy authorizes emergency vehicle operations for certain coded calls, which helps explain how fast SWAT, patrol units and the helicopter converged on the South High Street corridor.
Where officers were searching and why it matters
The search zone sits behind retail plazas off South High Street, pressed up against thick brush where makeshift camps have been reported. The area’s proximity to the planned Great Southern Metro Park and to a 2022 encampment eviction nearby has made it something of a flashpoint for how the city’s homelessness crisis and policing overlap in this corner of town, as Axios has noted when tracing its recent history.
When an officer fires a weapon, even in a chaotic search like this one, the paper trail is supposed to start immediately. The Division’s use-of-force policy requires supervisors to document and investigate every deployment of a firearm, with cases potentially routed to Internal Affairs or even the county prosecutor, depending on what happened. Columbus Division of Police guidance sets out the reporting steps and layers of supervisory review for use-of-force incidents.
WSYX/ABC6 described the South Side scene as remaining active for some time after the arrest. Columbus police did not immediately release additional details about any charges tied to Dickerson’s arrest or the initial incident that triggered the citywide emergency call.
