An Ohio man who had been a fugitive from drug charges for more than a year was shot and killed by state troopers in Columbus Tuesday. Jermonte Fletcher becomes the second person to die in US domestic drug law enforcement operations so far this year.

[image:1 align:right]According to the Associated Press, relying on police sources, members of a US Marshals fugitive task force got a tip that Fletcher was at a Columbus apartment building, and when they tried to arrest him, he opened fire. Two state troopers returned fire, killing him.

No officers were injured in the shootout, but one injured his leg carrying an 8-year-old boy from the building.

Fletcher was the last member of the North Short Posse at large. The gang had moved large amounts of drugs through Central Ohio since the 1990s. Twenty-two members of the gang were indicted on federal drug trafficking, weapons, and money laundering charges in 2013. Nineteen of them have already pleaded guilty or been convicted.

Fletcher was facing up to 115 years in federal prison if convicted on all 46 counts against him. The US Marshals office said that he had vowed not to be taken alive.