A 20-year-old Columbus man will spend the next 25 to 26 years in prison after pleading guilty to five felony cases that included three separate drive-by shootings, one of which wounded a 13-year-old boy as he got ready for school. Kaden Ratcliff also admitted to a robbery and to possessing automatic firearms and machine gun conversion devices during the string of violence.
Franklin County Prosecutor Shayla D. Favor announced the sentence, according to WSYX, which reported that Ratcliff's plea deal locks in the 25-to-26-year prison term. The station reported that investigators recovered 28 shell casings tied to the shootings and determined that at least one fully automatic firearm was used. Ratcliff is also accused of possessing multiple Glock switches and other machine gun conversion devices, the same article noted.
One of the attacks unfolded on East Blake Avenue in Columbus, where the station's report says the shooters were actually looking for someone else and hit the wrong residence entirely. A 13-year-old boy inside was shot in the leg and groin while getting ready for school, according to the same account, and was rushed to Nationwide Children's Hospital, where he underwent emergency surgery.
A Second Shooting on South Third Street
Ratcliff also participated in a separate drive-by shooting at a residence on South Third Street, where three people were inside at the time, per the same account. The home was struck by gunfire multiple times, though the report notes that the people inside were not injured in that particular incident. A third drive-by shooting rounds out the trio of attacks tied to Ratcliff's plea deal, according to the same reporting.
Not every victim escaped injury during the broader spree, however. A boy's mother was shot in the arm, the report states, underscoring how the violence spilled beyond intended targets and into homes where families were simply going about their mornings.
Mandatory Add-Ons Behind the Decades-Long Term
A summary shared on Reddit in May describes Ohio Revised Code § 2941.144 as a gun specification with mandatory add-on terms. Separately, discharging a firearm from a moving vehicle carries its own mandatory five-year specification under Ohio Revised Code § 2941.146, which must run consecutively to any sentence for the underlying offense, as Hoodline reported in earlier Columbus drive-by coverage. Those specifications were part of the case alongside a sentence stretching a quarter-century or more.
The conversion devices at the center of Ratcliff's case, commonly called Glock switches or auto sears, were identified in the case as machine gun conversion devices. The devices let semi-automatic handguns fire continuously at rates up to 1,200 rounds per minute, according to the ATF.
A Local and National Surge in Conversion Devices
Columbus police recovered Glock switches in 2023. A first Franklin County juvenile Glock-switch case was reported in August 2023.
The trend extends well beyond central Ohio. Federal and local law enforcement agencies recovered and traced more than 11,000 machine gun conversion devices nationwide between 2019 and 2023, a 784% increase over five years, according to an ATF national assessment cited by Everytown Research & Policy. Manufacturers have taken notice: Glock, Inc. announced plans in October 2025 to discontinue its existing handgun lines in favor of new V Series models designed with modified slides and triggers meant to prevent third-party switches from easily converting pistols into automatic weapons, per the same research group.
Booking Records and Unresolved Questions
Franklin County booking records show Ratcliff was booked into county custody on February 3, 2026, on charges including aggravated robbery, before his five felony cases were resolved through the plea agreement, according to Franklin County Mugshots Zone. Multiple other defendants connected to the case still have their own charges pending, and it remains unclear where the fully automatic firearms recovered in the investigation originated.
Ratcliff's sentencing lands amid a wave of drive-by shootings that has rattled central Ohio in recent months. Hoodline previously reported on a drive-by attack outside Antioch Jordan Church that left two people injured as mourners fled Demontae Johnson's funeral in August; police had not publicly named a suspect in that shooting. Favor leads the Franklin County Prosecutor's Office.
