Overview: Shooting occurred at 137 Blymyer Ave.
Multiple shots were fired around 2:30 a.m., police said. A 25-year-old Mansfield man was pronounced dead at the scene.
MANSFIELD — A 25-year-old Mansfield man was shot to death and three others were wounded early Sunday morning during a chaotic scene at a baby shower, according to Mansfield police.
Jahajee Cobb, 25, is the ninth homicide victim in the city during 2023, according to Bob Ball, the chief investigator for the Richland County Coroner’s Office. That total includes an inmate at the Mansfield Correctional Institution killed in June.
It’s the eighth homicide handled by Mansfield police, the most in at least the last decade. The MPD handled seven homicides during 2017 and 2018, according to department records, which had been the highest totals since 2012.
There were six in all of 2022.
The Bucyrus Post of the Ohio State Highway Patrol handles crimes in the two state prisons within city limits.
Shooting reported at 2:30 a.m.
Police responded at 2:30 a.m. to 137 Blymyer Ave. to 911 calls and also reports through the city’s ShotSpotter system, according to Asst. Chief Jason Bammann.
“Apparently there was a baby shower they were celebrating. We have little details at this point other than there was some type of an altercation between several subjects,” he said.
“It appears that maybe subjects left and returned with guns and there were multiple shots fired. There are four shooting victims. One victim is deceased. The other three, from what I’m being told, sustained non-life threatening gunshot wounds. They’re all in recovery at this moment,” Bammann said.
The assistant chief said it appeared there was more than one shooter at the scene, which he described as “chaotic.” No suspects were in custody as of Sunday at 9 a.m.
Police put out a call for mutual aid to control the crowd at the scene, including people who responded after the event. The Richland County Sheriff’s Office and the Mansfield Post of the Ohio State Highway Patrol came to assist with crowd control.
“I was told it was a very chaotic scene (and) that individuals tried rushing the scene. Officers had to call for mutual aid to keep them out of the scene. Very, very chaotic.
“It makes it tough to, to investigate scenes like that when your focus is just trying to protect the scene. We know there were multiple people there. As of last night, nobody saw anything or could give us any information,” Bammann said.
On Sunday morning, detectives and crime scene technicians were working behind the residence. At least two vehicles were seen towed from the scene.
‘It doesn’t leave me shocked anymore,’ says police chief
Mansfield police Chief Keith Porch said he was not shocked or surprised to learn the shooting took place during a baby shower.
“Given the history of recent violence that we’ve had within our city, and not only within the city, just what’s occurring around the state, it doesn’t leave me shocked anymore,” Porch said.
“I know from the reports of the scene, it was chaotic. I’m definitely proud of the officers that were able to handle that scene and to get that stabilized and to get the detectives in there to do what they have to do,” the chief said.
“Obviously anytime we have four shooting victims with one death, that is concerning, and it was all hands on deck for the detective section,” Porch said.
The chief classified it as “large gathering.”
“Especially after the shooting occurred, which prompted other family members, other friends to respond to the scene that weren’t originally part of this initial gathering is what’s been reported to me,” Porch said.
The three other shooting victims were transported to OhioHealth Mansfield Hospital, according to Bammann.
Ball said Cobb’s body will be taken to Montgomery County on Monday for an autopsy. The investigator said the man was found in the driveway behind the residence.
(Below are photos taken Sunday morning around 137 Blymyer Ave., the scene of an early-morning homicide, according to Mansfield police.)
