MANSFIELD — The two suspects from a Sunday morning homicide on Blymyer Avenue are in police custody, both charged with murder.
Michael Lee Coffee Jr., 30, turned himself into police Monday afternoon and Avanta Shemar Dakota Payne Adams, 22, was arrested at his workplace, according to Jason Bammann, the city’s assistant police chief.
Both men will be arraigned in Mansfield Municipal Court. Both are Mansfield residents. According to Richland County Board of Elections records, Coffee’s last known address was on Altamont Avenue. Adams lives on South Adams Street, according to Mansfield Municipal Court records.
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“These arrests are a direct result of excellent work by the entire Major Crimes section of the Mansfield Police Department and members of the community,” Chief Keith Porch said in an emailed press release.
“It is the cooperation of the community and the diligence of the Major Crimes Bureau that both solved and apprehended the suspects in less than 48 hours,” Porch said.
Assistant chief Jason Bammann also credited the community’s assistance.
“We got a lot of cooperation from the public. When the public helps police, we get stuff done together,” he said.
The murder charges were approved Sunday evening after detectives met with the office of Richland County Prosecutor Jodie Schumacher, Porch said earlier Monday.
Jahajee Cobb, 25, was shot to death around 2:30 a.m. at 137 Blymer Ave. He became 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.
Mansfield police responded Sunday morning to 911 calls and also reports through the city’s ShotSpotter system, according to Bammann.
Three other residents suffered non-life threatening gunshot wounds and made their way to the hospital, Porch said.
