Columbus Man Sentenced in 2024 Hilltop Shooting That Killed One, Injured Another

Posted on 9/9/2025

Defendant: Mehki Miller

A Columbus man who shot two people during a dispute, killing one, will spend at least the next 21 years in prison.
 
Mehki Miller, 19, pleaded guilty to one count of murder with a three-year gun specification; felonious assault with a three-year gun specification; tampering with a one-year gun specification; and weapons under disability. He also pleaded guilty to a strangulation charge from an unrelated 2024 case.
 
Miller was sentenced to 21 years to life in prison. He has been in the Franklin County Jail since July 28, 2024, held on $5 million bond.
 
Case Background
 
Just after 10 p.m. on July 28, 2024, Columbus Police were called to a reported shooting in the 700 block of South Ogden Avenue. When they arrived, they found John Wilks, 28, inside of a garage, suffering multiple gunshot wounds. He died at the scene.
 
Witnesses identified Miller as the shooter, and police arrested him after a brief car and foot chase. Inside the vehicle Miller was driving, police found a second gunshot victim, who was taken to a local hospital.

Police said the motive appeared to be a dispute between Wilks and Miller, who shot Wilks several times before dragging his body to a nearby garage and fleeing the area.