A Tennessee man accused of gunning down a 38-year-old Lyndhurst resident in his own garage is set to stand trial Monday in Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas, nearly a year after a shooting that ended with a highway pursuit all the way to Cincinnati. Francisco Volinski faces a nine-count indictment, including two counts of murder, in the death of Dorian Holt.
Lyndhurst Police Chief Patrick Rhode said Volinski shot and killed Holt on August 8, 2025, following what investigators have described as an argument between the two, according to Cleveland 19 News. Officers responding to a 911 call at roughly 7:15 p.m. that Friday found Holt on the floor of his South Sedgewick Road garage suffering from multiple gunshot wounds, as reported by WKYC 3News. He was rushed to Cleveland Clinic Hillcrest Hospital in neighboring Mayfield Heights, the only verified Level II Adult Trauma Center on Cleveland's east side, but did not survive.
What exactly sparked the confrontation remains murky, and accounts of the two men's relationship conflict. Cleveland 19 News reports that Volinski and Holt did not know each other, while WKYC 3News's earlier coverage described the men as known acquaintances — a discrepancy that has not been resolved in public reporting ahead of trial.
A Chase That Stretched to Cincinnati
After the shooting, Volinski fled the scene by vehicle, according to Cleveland 19 News. He was arrested several hours later near Cincinnati, roughly 240 miles southwest of Lyndhurst, in a pursuit that involved the Ohio State Highway Patrol and the U.S. Marshals Service, per Chief Rhode's account as relayed by WKYC 3News.
The homicide investigation was led by the Lyndhurst Police Detective Bureau, with specialized assistance from the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation and the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office, Hoodline's earlier coverage of the case noted. Volinski, 36 at the time of the shooting, resided in La Vergne, Tennessee, a suburb of Rutherford County.
Nine-Count Indictment and Not Guilty Plea
On August 21, 2025, a Cuyahoga County grand jury indicted Volinski on nine counts: two counts of murder, two counts of felonious assault, two counts of obstructing justice, involuntary manslaughter, having weapons while under disability, and use of a firearm by a violent career criminal. Volinski appeared in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court five days later and entered a not guilty plea to all counts, with the court continuing his bond at $1 million. He has remained in jail since his arrest.
If convicted of murder, Volinski faces an unclassified felony carrying a mandatory indefinite sentence of 15 years to life in prison under Ohio Revised Code Section 2929.02, which treats murder separately from Ohio's standard classified felony degrees.
A Rare Homicide in a Quiet Suburb
Lyndhurst recorded zero homicides in its FBI Uniform Crime Reporting periods prior to the August 2025 shooting, with violent crime rates well below national averages, according to AreaVibes crime data. Holt's death is the second major Lyndhurst homicide case to move through Cuyahoga County's court system in the past year — in July, the same court sentenced a Lyndhurst teen to 25-to-life for a separate 2022 fatal shooting on Mayfield Road.
Jury selection is expected to begin Monday as prosecutors and defense attorneys prepare to argue over what led to the deadly confrontation in Holt's garage. No additional details about trial witnesses or evidence have been made public ahead of proceedings.
