COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – Columbus police are still searching for the person(s) responsible for shooting 20-year-old Josiah Montgomery in the face in a South Linden neighborhood. It’s been almost a year and there are still no answers.
“So Josiah was a very good person. As a fundamentally good person. He was a caretaker. He loved God. He was a great father. He always wanted to be a good father,” said Tanika Cherry, Montgomery’s mother.
On Oct. 8, around 4:30 a.m., Columbus police arrived at the 1100 block of Duxberry Ave. and found Josiah in his car suffering from multiple gunshot wounds to the face. His mom had no idea it happened until 10 p.m. that night.
“So when the number came up I immediately knew it was OSU and I said, ‘Please don’t tell me something is wrong with my son’, you know? The doctor told me that Josiah had been shot and he had a bullet in his spinal cord. He didn’t tell me the level of the injuries. So at that time I was like, okay, we got this. That’s what I thought to myself until I got to the hospital and I saw him lying in the ICU,” Cherry said.
Josiah succumbed to his injuries a week later. To this day, there are still no answers as to what happened that morning.
“Still unbelievable that I’ll never see my son again,” Cherry said. “His son will never know his dad, you know, he’ll see pictures of him with his dad holding him, but he won’t have any memory of his father.”
Recently, Central Ohio Crime Stoppers announced that if anyone can help lead to the arrest or an indictment in this case, they could be eligible for a cash reward.
“It’s heartbreaking when you hear from a mother and it’s heartbreaking when this happens in general but any opportunity that we have to shed light on these cases to generate tips and to hopefully get these cases solved,” said Central Ohio Crime Stoppers Coordinator, Anthony Johnson.
There are three ways to send a tip to Crime Stoppers, and it will remain anonymous. Tips can be submitted by calling 614-461-8477, downloading the ‘P3TIPS’ app or visiting their website.
