Police Identify Officer Who Shot Man Fleeing Nightclub

By Theodore Decker, The Columbus Dispatch, Ohio

Mar. 28–Columbus police have released the name of the officer who shot a man while working security at a North Side nightclub Friday night, but gave few other details.

Shannon Preston, who turned 23 on Sunday, remained in critical condition yesterday at Riverside Methodist Hospital after being shot by Officer Stanford Speaks. Preston’s last known address was 1001 E. 22 nd Ave.

Police said officers were working extra duty in the parking lot of the Obvious nightclub, 2467 E. Dublin-Granville Rd., when someone fired shots from inside a car in the lot.

Police spokesman Sgt. Michael Woods said officers were not sure what or whom the shooter intended to hit, but that no one was wounded.

The shots appeared to come from a car carrying Preston and two other people who have not been charged or named by police. The car left the lot right after the shots were fired, with two officers in a marked police cruiser in pursuit, police said.

Police stopped the car on a service road at Maple Canyon Drive and E. Dublin-Granville Road. Preston got out and tried to run, police said.

Woods said a confrontation between Preston and Speaks led Speaks to shoot Preston in the upper body.

Reports from witnesses Friday night said Preston was shot in the back as he ran from police. Medics on police scanners also could be heard saying Preston was being transported with a gunshot wound to his back.

Woods would not elaborate on specifics of the shooting, saying the case remained under investigation.

Shell casings found in the car were of the same caliber and make as casings found in the club’s parking lot, police said.

Speaks, 36, is an eight-year veteran of the division.

The Obvious Club was the scene of a homicide a year ago yesterday, when a man was killed in a spray of gunfire from an assault rifle. Club management has worked with police to improve security there, Woods said.

tdecker@dispatch.com

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