A 35-year-old Columbus man was shot and killed by at least one masked man late Monday in his College Street home, according to police.
While witnesses disagreed about whether there were two suspects or just one, at least one man with a bandana over his faces entered 2018 1/2 College St. at 11:36 p.m. Monday and shot Eddie Terrell Bankhead in his upper body, said Police Public Information Officer Terrie Songer.
Officers arrived and found Bankhead outside in the passenger seat of a parked car.
Bankhead was taken in critical condition to Baptist Memorial Hospital-Golden Triangle, where he died during surgery. He was pronounced dead at 3:55 a.m.
The suspect or suspects fired two shots, including the one that hit Bankhead, but neither of the other two people in the house were injured.
One of those people was Rennie Gibbs, who received national attention after she was charged in 2006 when she was 16 with the depraved-heart murder of her unborn baby.
Gibbs miscarried after overdosing on cocaine, although it”s not clear whether her drug habit affected the baby.
Officers did find drugs, including cocaine, at the house Monday night.
Lowndes County Coroner Greg Merchant, said he didn”t have an exact count, but that the city and county were “getting close to 10 murders” just this year.
“It”s quite a number for us,” he said.
As of press time this morning, no suspects had been identified.
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