| |
|
A Chinese immigrant who moved to Columbus several years ago in search of
a better life died in a North Side shooting yesterday afternoon.
Columbus police were looking for the gunman who killed Xiaoying Wu during a carjacking attempt behind her apartment complex.
Wu, 37, of 680 Riverview Drive in the Colony Square Apartments was accosted as she was getting into the passenger seat of her friend's car about 1:40 p.m. in the rear parking lot of the complex.
She and her friend, whom police did not identify, were on their way to shop for groceries when a man jumped into the back seat of the car and pointed a silver handgun at them, homicide detective Mike McCann said.
Police think the gunman wanted the 11-year-old sedan because he didn't take the women's purses, which were within his grasp the car, McCann said.
"I can only assume he panicked, shot her and had to run,'' he said.
Wu was struck in the neck, although investigators were uncertain whether she was shot while in the car or while trying to flee, McCann said.
She staggered into a courtyard the complex and collapsed.
A neighbor dialed 911 after hearing gunshots. Wu was taken to Riverside Hospital, where she was pronounced dead shortly before 2 p.m.
She is survived by her husband, Baocheng Pan, a graduate assistant in the Chemistry Department at Ohio State University, and their 6-year-old son, who wasn't identified.
Pan was at OSU when the shooting occurred.
The couple's son was in a group of elementary schoolchildren a bus dropped off near the apartment complex while police were searching the area. Friends watched the boy yesterday afternoon until his father arrived home.
A man who answered the door last night at the family's apartment said he was too distraught to talk.
The couple's son spent a few years in China while Wu obtained her degree in computer science at Franklin University, said Chiu-Mei Yu, a former classmate and Taiwanese immigrant who lives nearby.
She said that after their son returned home this year, Wu became a stay-at-home mother. "It's very sad. She was a good friend and a good mother,'' she said.
Another friend, who asked not to be identified, said Wu had moved to the United States from an area north of Hong Kong. It was unknown last night whether Wu and Pan came here together or met here.
Police planned to interview the woman who was with Wu when she was shot. The Asian woman was so shaken by the incident she was having trouble communicating in English, McCann said.
The suspect was seen stuffing the handgun into his pants after the shooting and running south through the complex. Witnesses said they saw the man entering the nearby River Plaza Apartments, 730 Riverview Dr.
Police evacuated the three-story building for three hours yesterday afternoon while SWAT officers searched 36 apartment units. Nothing was found.
The suspect was described as an athletically built, 6-foot-tall black man in his mid-20s with a medium complexion. He was wearing a green, waist-length jacket, light bluejeans and a cap with red or maroon on it.
Anyone with information is asked to call detectives at 614-645-4730.
Caption: (1) Tom Dodge / Dispatch
Medics treat Xiaoying Wu in the
courtyard of Colony Square Apartments. Wu, who was shot yesterday afternoon,
died later at the hospital.