DELAWARE, OHIO: The State Highway Patrol says an 18-year-old man’s shooting at an interstate rest area in central Ohio by a suspect who the patrol says fatally shot himself after a patrol pursuit apparently was a random act.
The patrol says 25-year-old Shawn Johnson fired several shots at a vehicle, critically injuring 18-year-old Alexander Melchert around 11 a.m. Sunday at an Interstate 71 rest area in Delaware County. The College of Wooster identified Melchert as a first-year student from Wisconsin.
Patrol Sgt. Vincent Shirey says the two men didn’t appear to have known each other and were standing outside Melchert’s vehicle when the shooting occurred.
Authorities who pursued Johnson say they found the Westerville suspect dead of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot after his vehicle crashed into an I-71 guardrail in Richland County.