OXFORD — UPDATE @ 6:10 p.m. (Oct. 14)
A Cleveland man is arrested in connection to the shooting earlier this month of two Miami University students.
Patrick J. Belinson, 27, was booked today into the Butler County Jail on suspicion of two counts each of complicity to felonious assault and complicity to aggravated robbery. Detectives are still searching for at least one other suspect, police said.
The charges stem from the shooting around 7:40 p.m. at 210 N. Campus Ave. of 20-year-old students Jared Goldhamer and Volodymyr Kovalenko, who were both shot in the legs. They have since been released from McCullough Hyde Memorial and West Chester hospitals, according to Oxford police.
It was initially reported to officers that the two suspects came to the off-campus residence for a prior arranged vehicle sale. Subsequent investigation revealed the transaction was approximately $4,000 in marijuana. During the drug deal, one suspect pulled out a firearm and fired three rounds, striking Goldhamer and Kovalenko. The suspects then fled with the cash.
The second suspect is described as a man with his hair in dreadlocks who stands about 5 feet, 11 inches and weighs 190 pounds. Anyone with information is urged to contact Oxford police detective Sgt. David King, 513-524-5240.
UPDATE @ 6:30 p.m. (Oct. 11)
Illegal drugs and drug paraphernalia seen by police responding to the house where two Miami University students were shot Oct. 4 led investigators to get a search warrant for the North Campus Avenue residence, according to court documents.
Police found marijuana and drug paraphernalia, as well as bullets, shell casings and a gun apparently used by two suspects to inflict injuries that were not life-threatening, police said. Items seized include: rolling papers, scales, grinders, a wallet containing multiple identification cards, three baggies of marijuana, a safe containing a small amount of cash and two baggies of marijuana, three .380 shell casings in the living room, a .380 live round in the living room, a .380 shell casing with blood next to a hole in the floor, a Cobra .380 semiautomatic pistol with magazine in the living room, three bullets, an iPhone, $2,000 cash and marijuana pipes.
UPDATE @ 3:15 p.m. (Oct. 5)
Two Miami University students wounded in an off-campus shooting last night have been identified by Oxford police.
Volodymyr Kovalenko, 23, of Beachwood, Ohio, was shot in the leg. Jared Goldhamer, 20, who listed his address as the North Campus Avenue home where the shootings occurred, also suffered a gunshot wound to the leg, according to the Oxford police report.
Kovalenko said he contacted a person through Craig’sList to buy a car for $4,000. The alleged seller and another man drove the vehicle from Cleveland and they met at the Oxford residence, according to the report.
One of the men, a black male, became “jittery and paranoid” when given the cash, Kovalenko told police.
“The (black male) pulled out a gun and shot Jared Goldhamer, who was sitting on the couch in the leg,” according to the police report.
Kovalenko said after Goldhamer was shot, he fought the shooter for the weapon and the gun went off, hitting him in the leg. Kovalenko said the gun dropped to the floor and was kicked under the couch. That’s when the two suspects grabbed the cash and fled the scene.
Goldhamer told police he was sitting on the couch while Kovalenko and the two suspects were talking about the car. One of the suspects pulled out a gun and fired it into his leg, Goldhamer told police.
According to the police report, Goldhamer saw Kovalenko fighting with the suspect and the gun went off hitting Kovalenko in the leg.
Two other housemates heard the shots and ran downstairs. They told police that they saw the suspect only briefly.
A 911 call placed from the North Campus Avenue house where two Miami University students were shot Tuesday night indicates one was shot in the upper leg.
A male caller told Butler County dispatchers, “Someone just came in the house and shot my friend in the leg.”
The caller says his 23-year-old friend is in pain but conscious. “He’s breathing, but there is like blood all over my floor,” the caller says.
The dispatcher tells the male to get a cloth or towel and hold it over the wound.
The male said he did not see the shooting and the suspects ran. “I wasn’t here for the whole thing, but I heard gunshots and freaked out and then he got shot. I don’t know what is going on,” the caller told dispatchers.
Scott Sutton, a student who lives across the street from the house where the shooting occurred, said he was shocked to see police tape and “a lot of cops” outside the home Tuesday evening when he was returning home from a late class.
“It was just complete mayhem,” he said. “Everyone was out watching.”
Sutton said he received an email on his phone during class that someone was injured and there was a warning to stay away from the area.
Sutton said he had to use the home’s back entrance because of all the police activity outside the front of his home.
“I had to make my way through all these people because everyone was on the street just searching to see what was going on,” he said.
Sutton, who has lived in Oxford for three years, said he had never seen anything like Tuesday night’s scene.
“It was very scary. …We were very flustered,” he said of the reaction he and his housemates had. “It was a very scary time.”
Sutton said the campus is generally very safe, but Tuesday night's shooting and earlier rumors about clowns have people on edge.
EARLIER (Oct. 4) Two male Miami University students shot at a house on North Campus Avenue in Oxford near campus are the victims of an apparent robbery and felonious assault, Oxford police said in a statement released tonight.
Police said the victims told them two other males — one white, the other black and wearing shoulder-length dreadlocks — shot them in the home about 7:45 p.m. and took off in an unknown direction.
A Miami University police officer said the incident did not occur on campus, but police department has issued an alert via its website under the heading “Police Activity” instructing students and campus employees to stay clear of the area.
We have a crew on the way to check out the situation.
Police officials are asking anyone who has information about the shooting to call the police department at 513-524-5240.
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