Kobe Bryant, 22, of Lima, was found dead from gunshot wounds in the yard of a residence at 643 E. Fourth St., Lima, shortly after 10 p.m. Thursday. Police have no suspects in custody.
J Swygart | The Lima News
LIMA — Lima police are searching for the person or people involved in a Thursday night shooting in south Lima that left one man dead in the city’s fourth homicide of 2022.
Officers were dispatched shortly before 10 p.m. to the area of Branson Avenue and Fourth Street in reference to a shooting. They found Kobe Bryant, 22, of Lima, in the yard of a residence at 643 E. Fourth St., suffering from gunshot wounds. He was unresponsive and was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police have no suspects at this time.
Bryant was one of the two teens charged in a May 14, 2017, shooting in the 300 block of North Collett Street, according to a statement issued by the Lima Police Department.
Anyone with information regarding the Thursday night shooting should contact Detective Matt Boss at 419–221-5156, the Lima Police Department at 419-227-4444 or Lima/Allen County Crime Stoppers at 419-229-7867.
According to LPD Detective Sgt. Jason Garlock, Bryant’s death was the fourth homicide in Lima this year. That matches last year’s total but is well below the 13 homicides investigated by the LPD in 2020 and the seven in 2019. In 2018 there were five homicides in the city, according to figures provided by the LPD.
In 2020, the city had multiple homicides in one morning early in the year when three men died inside or just outside of the former Levels Lounge at 122 E. North St. on Feb. 4. Lima resident Deontray Forrest has been charged with murder and criminal gang activity in the shooting deaths. He is scheduled to stand trial in May 2023, more than three years after the incident.
