Reynoldsburg Man, 19, Charged With Murder in May Columbus Shooting

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A Reynoldsburg man arrested by a Columbus police SWAT team on Monday is charged with murder in a fatal shooting that happened five months ago on the city’s Northeast Side.

Amari Cross, 19, is charged with murder in Franklin County Municipal Court case 2026 CR A 018463, according to court records. Columbus police say the charge stems from a shooting just before 4:15 a.m. on May 20 in the 4000 block of Migration Lane, where officers found Samir Mayes, 22, shot. Mayes was taken to Mount Carmel East Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, and a woman at the scene had minor injuries, police said.

According to a criminal complaint filed by homicide detectives and reported by the Columbus Dispatch, several suspects were trying to steal the woman’s vehicle when she and Mayes stepped onto a balcony and spotted them, and the suspects opened fire. Detectives say the suspects fled in a Toyota RAV4 that had been stolen in Groveport a couple of hours earlier and was later recovered in South Linden, and that cellphone records and a window-breaking device carrying Cross’s DNA tied him to the scenes, according to the complaint.

Franklin County Sheriff’s Office records show Cross was arrested on October 26, 2026, and booked into the Franklin County Corrections Center at James A. Karnes (booking 20261026036). Bond had not been set in the case as of his arraignment on Tuesday in courtroom 4D.

Cross is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court. Felony cases filed in municipal court are typically presented to a Franklin County grand jury, which decides whether to issue an indictment and move the case to the Court of Common Pleas.

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