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Columbus Police Kill Teenager During Armed Robbery

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Columbus Police say a 15-year-old boy is dead after being shot by officers during an attempted armed robbery Thursday.

Police say officers responded to multiple 911 calls about an armed robbery at a CVS Pharmacy at 3307 East Broad Street just after 6 p.m.

After entering the building, officers say they confronted Abdirahman Salad while he was holding a gun inside the pharmacy area of the business.

“Multiple officers did fire their weapon, striking the suspect. The suspect was transported to Grant Medical Center, where he later died as a result of his injuries,” Columbus Police Sergeant James Fuqua told reporters at the scene.

No officers were hurt. Columbus Police has not identified the officers involved in the shooting.

Fuqua says police value human life, whatever the situation is, but he says officers followed their training.

“They came, the confrontation ensued and unfortunately someone has lost their life tonight in the event of all these things happening,” Fuqua said.

Police say the shooting remains under investigation.

The incident is Columbus’ second deadly officer-involved shooting of an armed robbery suspect in the past week. On Saturday, January 25, police say they fatally shot Joshua James Brown, 34, as he exited the back door of a Bob Evans restaurant on Olentangy River Road following an armed robbery.

Steve Brown grew up in nearby Richwood, Ohio and now lives there with his wife and sons. He started his journalism career as a weekend board operator at WOSU while majoring in journalism at Ohio State, where he also wrote for the student newspaper The Lantern and co-founded the organization Students for Public Broadcasting.