He was accused of killing the mother of his child, Velencia Compton. Police have spent weeks searching for Leo Scott. Police say he committed suicide, after a morning stand-off. It all happened on 54th Street in Columbus.
It happened right here near Lemon Tree Apartments on 54th street when detectives showed up to serve a murder warrant for Leo Scott. The scene is quiet now, but as you can imagine it was quite a different story Thursday morning as SWAT teams surrounded the apartment and distraught family members filled the neighborhood.
"It's just so sad to know that he would do something like this. I want to know why, why you did it,” said one of Compton’s friends.
Friends of the murdered mother pose questions they may never have the answers to.
"We don't think that he fired on officers, we think it was a single gunshot to take his own life,” said Columbus Police Chief Ricky Boren.
The manhunt began in January, after police say Leo Scott shot the mother of his child 21-year-old Velencia Compton during an argument at her apartment in Port Royal South Carolina, then fled with their 3year-old son to Columbus, dropping him off with family. Thursday morning, a SWAT team surrounded the apartment off 54th street where police say the 25-year-old shot and killed himself.
"We've had several investigative leads on the individual...This is the first time that we actually encountered him at a residence,” said Boren.
The stand-off started when detectives knocked on the apartment door to serve the murder warrant. Police say two women answered the door, were removed from the home, and asked to identify a photo of Scott. That's when the sound of gunfire rang through the neighborhood.
“The lady kept asking them, ‘Do you know this man, do you know this man? Heard a gunshot that's when I think it may have happened,” said a neighbor.
Investigators entered the home to find Scott dead in an room upstairs. Scott's father and family members were there as they learned about the suicide.
It's not the way police wanted or expected to the search for Leo Scott to end.
"We were hoping that we could take him and put him in custody and take him back to the Carolinas to stand trial,” said Boren.
A very tragic story, especially when you consider the child that now has no mother or father. The women that were in that apartment 22-year-old Rachael Banks and 24-year-old Kimberly Gosa were taken to jail.
Both women are charged with hindering in the apprehension of a criminal, possession of marijuana, and possession of a drug related object.
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