Four Slain; Three Ohio Officers Wounded, Suspect Killed

Even as the police officer's call crackled across the radio -- shots fired, officers down -- the chaos was far from over at the corner of Genessee and Joyce avenues yesterday.

As police carrying handguns and assault rifles chased a fleeing suspect with an apparent arsenal of his own, bullets whizzed and people came out of their homes only to see the commotion and run for cover themselves.

Police were chasing a pickup truck driven by 27-year-old Randle Lee Roberts because they suspected that minutes before he had fired a gun into two neighborhood homes. Later, they learned he was suspected of something much worse: the deaths of four Adams County family members, found that morning.

The police chase ended when Roberts crashed the truck through a fence at the Church of Christ, 1889 Genessee Ave., and bailed. Police say he fired on officers, missing them, and took off.

Police hunted him inside buildings, down alleys and in the streets. Within minutes, they found him, and it all came to a head in a fast and furious gunbattle in front of a home at 1939 Genessee Ave.

When the smoke cleared, two Columbus police sergeants and one officer had been shot multiple times, Roberts was slumped on a porch dead, and another man was wounded. Police still didn't know exactly who that man was last night or what role he played.

The officers' names have not been released, but Sgt. Jim Gilbert, president of the police union, said none of their injuries is life-threatening or career-ending. Only one was expected to remain in the hospital past last night. All were shot in the legs, one in the shoulder and another grazed in the ear.

Exactly what happened at Genessee and Joyce will probably take beyond this weekend to sort out, said Sgt. Rich Weiner, Columbus police spokesman.

But as bad and chaotic as that scene between 10:30 and 11 a.m. yesterday was, nobody in the middle of it knew it was about to get much, much worse.

Authorities now say Roberts already had killed four people.

Almost simultaneous to the North Linden gunbattle, Adams County Sheriff Kimmy Rogers, some 90 miles away in his Appalachian county along the Ohio River, was calling Columbus.

He was alerting the Franklin County sheriff's office that four people -- three adults and a child -- had been found killed about 10:30 yesterday morning in their home at 9825 Rt. 41 near West Union and the suspect was Roberts. He had been living with the family and was on the run.

Roberts still had a wife in Columbus, and he might be heading here, Rogers told authorities.

But he already was here.

Here is what authorities and relatives say happened in Adams County:

About 10:30 a.m., 8-year-old Mariah Stephens awoke to find something wrong with the rest of her family. She ran to a neighbor's house for help.

Authorities responded to the home, which is owned by a man named Beaucifus Stephens. Inside they found the dead: Kendra Stephens, Beau's wife; their 11-year-old daughter, Harley Stephens; Beau's sister, Sonya Stephens; and Beau's father, George Stephens, who was disabled.

The family Chihuahua, Leo, also had been shot but was alive.

Relatives of the Stephenses said last night that Roberts' wife, Tiffany Walters, is Beau Stephens' niece.

Sheriff Rogers said George Stephens was found dead in a recliner in the living room. The mother and daughter were found together in one bedroom, and Beau's sister was in another bedroom.

Authorities confirmed that Roberts was the man killed by police in Columbus by identifying his multiple tattoos. Beau Stephens was in Adams County and would not talk to reporters.

Although there is much more to do to piece the story together and figure out why Roberts left such a trail of violence, authorities know some things already.

Sheriff Rogers said Roberts fled Adams County in his wife's Chevrolet Blazer.

He made it as far as the intersection of Cook Yankeetown Road and Rt. 62 near the Fayette/Madison county line. He abandoned the SUV in a ditch. Fayette County Sheriff Vernon Stanforth said one of his deputies found the Blazer there about 3 p.m. yesterday.