A Cuyahoga County man wanted in connection with a fatal shooting in downtown Columbus was arrested Aug. 7 by the U.S. Marshals Service in Cleveland.
LezLeon Evans, 20, of Garfield Heights, faces a murder charge in the fatal shooting of 25-year-old Lamar Ross, of Whitehall, according to court records. The shooting happened Nov. 21, 2025, on North High Street near the Ohio Statehouse.
A second suspect, Tyrek Simpson, 25, of Franklinton, was arrested in December and has been indicted on murder and other criminal charges, court filings show.
On July 7, officers with the Strongsville Police Department came across a male and female near a Sheetz gas station and Best Western Hotel located on Route 82 in Strongsville, according to a media release from
the U.S. Marshals Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force (NOVFTF). When police encountered the male, later identified as Evans, he allegedly gave false information about his identity, the U.S. Marshals said.
After learning of Evans' identity and that he had a warrant for his arrest for murder, officers tried to arrest him, but he fled into some nearby woods, the U.S. Marshals said. More officers, including the NOVFTF, responded to the scene but lost track of him that day.
After conducting interviews and following tips, investigators learned that Evans was at a home in the 12200 block of Mortimer Avenue in Cleveland, where he was arrested without incident on Aug. 7, the U.S. Marshals said. Evans is being held at the Cuyahoga County jail until he is extradited to Columbus to face charges.
Both Evans and Simpson have been charged in Ross' death. Simpson was arrested Dec. 4 by a Columbus police SWAT team. A Franklin County grand jury indicted him on murder, aggravated murder, felonious assault, and possessing weapons while under disability, which means he was not allowed to have or own weapons because he is a convicted felon.
According to a criminal complaint filed by city homicide detectives, surveillance footage at around 3 a.m. Nov. 21 captured both Evans and Simpson in a gray Honda SUV parked on North High Street. Evans got out of the driver's side of the SUV and stood at the corner of East Lynn Street and North High Street. Simpson then got out of the passenger's side of the SUV and called out to Ross and encouraged him to walk toward them, according to the complaint.
Evans then drew a handgun and shot Ross four times before fleeing the scene with Simpson, according to the complaint. Evans dropped his handgun at the scene, and detectives later recovered it. Using both phone records and DNA swabs, detectives identified Simpson and Evans as suspects.
Reporter Shahid Meighan can be reached at smeighan@dispatch.com, at ShahidMeighan on X, and at shahidthereporter.dispatch.com on Bluesky.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Cleveland-area man arrested in fatal Columbus shooting near Ohio Statehouse
