A man is being held in a Franklin County jail after Hilliard Police said he threatened to shoot at people in traffic. Chase Osborne, 25, is currently under arrest.
At around 2:56 p.m., the Northwest Regional Emergency Communications Center began receiving many phone calls reporting a white man strolling eastbound on Cemetery Rd. who was likely on drugs. According to these calls, the man was “waving a gun” and “pretending like he was going to shoot traffic.”
This man was later identified as Osborne.
“I was up there doing the cigarette count, and he came in. He asked my co-worker Bob about the cops,” Christian Coleman, an employee at the gas station, said. “[Osborne] went back out, and he held the door open right here and peeked around.”
Court documents show that Osborne was caught on city surveillance cameras flashing a handgun.
Hilliard Police officers began running lights and sirens in the vicinity. Video footage captured Osborne at the gas station’s entrance before he went to the restroom.
“And as he came out of the bathroom after being in there for a minute, the cops came in with their guns drawn and arrested him,” Coleman said. “Shocking that it happened.”
Police discovered a gun hidden in a trash can in the men’s bathroom, covered in paper towels.
I thought he was a normal customer but looking back on him, he did seem a little spooked.
Coleman stated that his manager and parents have been following up with him since the incident. “They wanted to make sure I was okay,” he explained.
“They wanted to make sure I was okay,” he said.
Osborne revealed to authorities that he bought the gun and was a heavy drug user who was going through a mental health crisis at the time. He was accused of tampering with evidence, possessing guns while disabled, and causing terror, all misdemeanors.
Osborne’s next court date is Tuesday.
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