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Obetz, Ohio – A Black man charged with reckless homicide in connection to the killing of a White man has been released on bond, according to public records.
The fatal shooting occurred at the Quality Inn & Suites on Frusta Dr. just after midnight on March 6, where Jakob Singletary—who is White—was shot and killed.
According to Obetz police, Singletary was sharing a hotel room with 21-year-old Jayden Spander-Junious—who is Black.
Spander-Junious was allegedly “playing with a loaded firearm” and accidentally fired one shot hitting Singletary in the head. Singletary was pronounced dead at 12:39 a.m.
On March 7, Spander-Junious appeared in court and was arraigned on charges of reckless homicide, a third-degree felony. According to VINELink, Spander-Junious’s total time in custody was just over 36 hours.
The Obetz Police Department is leading the investigation with assistance from the Ohio Attorney General’s Criminal Investigations bureau.
The Quality Inn at Obetz has been reviewed 680 times on Google and maintains an average rating of three out of five stars.
Of those who mentioned safety in their reviews, 65% were dissatisfied, citing security guards who “want to fight” and even referencing Singletary’s homicide.
Beyond safety concerns, cleanliness has also been a major issue at the hotel. Around 122 reviewers have complained about the odor of marijuana, urine, and cigarettes.
Obetz, a small suburb southwest of Columbus, Ohio, has an estimated population of around 7,000. More than four out of every five residents are White, while Black residents make up just over 9% of the population.
The town is largely insulated from major violent crimes. Local police have reported fewer than 10 incidents of rape, robbery, and armed assault over the past ten years. Singletary’s death marks the first homicide investigation by Obetz police in over a decade.
It remains to be seen whether Singletary’s killing is an isolated event or part of a broader trend of violent crime spreading from Columbus into Obetz.
Between 2019 and 2023, Columbus averaged 143 homicide investigations per year. Of those arrested for homicide, 56% were Black, a rate nearly double their share of the city’s population.
In contrast, White residents were underrepresented per capita among both homicide suspects and victims in Columbus. However, when White individuals did appear in the data, they were twice as likely to be homicide victims as suspects.
A significant number of Black-on-White homicides investigated by the Justice Report involve Black suspects mishandling firearms.
In January of this year, a Black man wanted in connection with the fatal shooting of his White teenage “girlfriend” was arrested in Illinois after 18 days on the run.
The suspect, Evrinn “Zo” Worlds, was not charged with homicide but instead faces charges of “felony abandonment of a corpse” and “misdemeanor tampering with physical evidence.”
Unverified screenshots of text messages appear to show not Worlds, but a juvenile confessing to the shooting as an accident. The victim’s mother has publicly accused the juvenile of killing her daughter.
Similarly, in September of last year, a 20-year-old White woman, Skyler Patillo, was shot and killed in Wilmington, North Carolina, after a 21-year-old Black man mishandled a firearm, according to police.
Patillo had been visiting a college-student housing complex when a gun—believed to be unloaded—discharged while being handled by Triston Spencer—who is Black. The bullet struck Patillo, and she later died at a local hospital.
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