A single weekend in Columbus brought four separate domestic violence-related crimes — one stabbing and three shootings, one of them fatal. Police are calling the volume unusual even for a city that has logged thousands of domestic violence runs so far this year.
Columbus police have reported a sharp rise in domestic violence calls in 2026, with 14,764 domestic violence-related runs completed so far this year, a 15% increase over last year, according to WSYX. Sgt. Albert told the station the weekend stood out even against that backdrop, describing it as having a very high number of domestic violence cases. Maria York added that domestic violence remains a prevalent and pervasive issue in Columbus.
None of the suspects in the weekend's four cases had prior domestic violence records, the station reported — a detail that cuts against the usual pattern. Statewide data released in October 2025 found that 55% of perpetrators in Ohio domestic violence fatalities had a prior criminal history, 37% had past felony convictions, and 36% were subject to active or former protection orders, according to the Ohio Domestic Violence Network. The weekend's suspects falling outside that profile complicates the predictive tools police and prosecutors typically lean on to flag repeat offenders.
How Columbus Tries to Catch Risk Before It Turns Deadly
To identify repeat domestic violence offenders, the Columbus Division of Police works with detectives and personnel who meet with the prosecutor's office weekly, reviewing every domestic violence case to determine whether charges can be enhanced, per the same WSYX report. Officers also use lethality assessments — a scoring system that weighs factors like weapons, strangulation and death threats to determine when a victim may be at heightened risk, then connects that person with advocates and resources. The Maryland Network Against Domestic Violence created the Maryland Model Lethality Assessment Program. York said evidence-based risk assessments save lives.
The legal tools available to prosecutors have expanded in recent years. Effective April 2023 under Senate Bill 288, Ohio classified strangulation as an independent felony under Ohio Revised Code § 2903.18, elevating non-fatal choking in domestic disputes from a misdemeanor to a felony punishable by up to eight years in prison, according to the Columbus Criminal Attorney. Separately, Columbus City Attorney Zach Klein directed municipal prosecutors in May 2023 to request a minimum $500,000 cash surety bond, mandatory GPS tracking, and weapons bans for domestic violence suspects accused of using firearms or inflicting severe physical harm, per WOSU Public Media. The City Attorney's Domestic Violence and Stalking Unit prosecuted more than 7,000 domestic violence cases in 2023 alone, 159 of which involved a firearm or other dangerous weapon, according to the City of Columbus.
A Statewide Surge With Guns at Its Center
The weekend's violence in Columbus lands amid what the Ohio Domestic Violence Network has called the deadliest year on record for domestic violence fatalities statewide. Ohio suffered 157 domestic violence-related fatalities across 108 cases between July 2024 and June 2025, a 37% increase over the previous 12-month period, the network found. Firearms were involved in 84% of those fatalities, with murder-suicides accounting for more than a third of all fatal cases.
Locally, domestic-related issues accounted for 37% of homicides and 8% of felony assaults investigated by Columbus police in 2025, with firearms used in 41% of those domestic assaults, according to municipal data published by the City of Columbus in August. Overall homicides in Columbus dipped last year, but domestic violence-related homicides remained stubbornly high, making up roughly 37% of the city's total homicide count.
Shelter Beds Fall Short of Demand
More than 19,000 survivors sought emergency shelter in Ohio in 2025, and 51% of them were turned away because of a lack of space and resources, per the WSYX report. LSS CHOICES operates the sole emergency domestic violence shelter in Franklin County, offering confidential shelter, counseling, legal assistance, and a 24-hour crisis hotline in a county where shelter demand routinely outpaces capacity, according to CAP4Kids.
Columbus had welcomed Domestic Violence Awareness Month just days before the weekend's violence, a designation meant to remind the community to seek help before situations escalate. Sgt. Albert urged anyone experiencing domestic violence to call police or the domestic violence hotline. Resources available locally include the Ohio Domestic Violence Network hotline at 1-800-934-9840, the Center for Family Safety & Healing at 614-722-8200, LSS CHOICES at 614-224-7200, and the Franklin County 24-hour crisis line at 614-226-4663.
The weekend's violence follows a string of recent domestic violence cases across Columbus, including a fatal shooting at a North Columbus motel and a Franklin County man sentenced to life for strangling art teacher Rachel Prince. Ohio's deadliest year for domestic violence fatalities and the state's 2025 passage of Senate Bill 100 — which criminalized placing tracking devices like Apple AirTags on intimate partners without consent — both point to a system still racing to catch up with the scale of the crisis, according to the Ohio Domestic Violence Network.
