Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Columbus, OH: Man killed trying to break up fight

Police: Father of six shot outside bar

Wednesday, August 18, 2010 02:52 AM
BY JIM WOODS

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH


Corey E. Hart was the kind of guy who couldn't stand by if he saw someone in trouble, his family and friends say.

That trait ended up costing Hart his life early yesterday morning.

Hart was trying to break up a fight outside the Woods bar, 2903 E. 5th Ave., when he was shot at 1:48a.m., Columbus police said. The initial caller to 911 told police that Hart was bleeding badly from his abdomen.

About four hours later, Hart, 30, died at Grant Medical Center.

Alice Hart, Corey's mother, and Ashley Adkins, his ex-girlfriend, said they had heard that Hart was shot because he had intervened when a man was threatening a woman. The woman was friends with Hart's girlfriend.

Another man who wasn't initially involved in the fight went to his sport-utility vehicle, got the gun and shot Hart, Alice Hart said.

As of last night, no one had been charged in the killing.

Adkins said that Hart was never a person who went looking for trouble. "He died saving somebody else's life," she said.

Hart, who lived on 7th Avenue on the East Side, leaves behind six children.

Adkins is the mother of five of their children, who range between 2 and 8 years old. He also has a 1-year-old.

And although they broke up more than a year ago, Adkins said they had stayed friends.

During the summer months, Hart took the primary responsibility for watching his children, she said. "He dropped them off on Friday and that was the last time they saw him."

Adkins said her children are having a hard time dealing with the loss of their father.

Ann Crome, a S. Champion Avenue resident who used to be Hart's neighbor, was mourning the loss of her friend.

"They need to stop all this," she said of killings that have occurred. "If they know who did it, tell it. Stop all the violence. It's nonsense."

jwoods@dispatch.com

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