Ohio: Man kills would-be robber on North Side

Columbus, Ohio

From the Columbus Dispatch of October 7, 2008

Man kills would-be robber on North Side

A Columbus man was killed this evening when, witnesses told police, he tried to rob a couple in a North Side parking lot.

Thomas E. Goldsmith Jr., 27, was pronounced dead at the scene around 5 p.m. Franklin County records had addresses for him on Roche Drive and Linden Avenue on the North Side.

Witnesses told police that Goldsmith approached a couple in their car at Kenmore Square Apartments holding a gun and demanded money from the man at the steering wheel, witnesses said. Goldsmith's gun misfired and the man in the car, identified as Deandre R. Henry, began shooting his own gun.

Henry, 24, of 3490 Derrer Field Drive on the Hilltop, called 911 from his cell phone and told them he had shot someone. Witnesses said he told police, "I shot this dude because he tried to rob me. What was I supposed to do? My girlfriend's pregnant." He emptied his gun of bullets and stayed in the parking lot until police arrived, witnesses said.

Columbus assault squad Sgt. Christ Holzhauser said several guns were recovered at the scene, and that Henry is cooperating with the investigation.

Holzhauser said self-defense "is definitely a possibility.

"If it ends up being a self-defense thing, it was very smart on his part to stay on the scene," Holzhauser said.

Police were not issuing chargs pending a county grand jury investigation.