On December 21, 2024, at about 8:40 p.m., Columbus police responded to a reported shooting near Tussing Elementary School in the 7000 block of Tussing Road in southeast Columbus. Officers found 21-year-old Vance Edward Stiers suffering from a gunshot wound; he was taken to Mount Carmel East Hospital and pronounced dead at 9:52 p.m. Preliminary investigators say the shooting may have been related to a robbery, but specific details have not been released and no suspects have been identified or arrested.

Vance Stiers lived in Croton, Ohio, and was born July 27, 2003, in Columbus. A 2022 graduate of Northridge High School and C-TEC, he had worked with his father and brother in the family business for four years. He enjoyed dirt biking, mountain biking, BMX and longboarding, held membership in FFA and the American Motorcyclist Association, and won Loretta Lynn’s Amateur Nationals in 2009.

Funeral services were scheduled at Snyder Funeral Homes, DeVore Chapel, with visitation on December 29, 2024, and a funeral on December 30, followed by burial at Bell Cemetery in Utica. The Columbus Division of Police is asking anyone with information to contact Detective Yoder at 614-645-2040, the Homicide Unit at 614-645-4730, or Central Ohio Crime Stoppers at 614-461-TIPS (8477). Does anyone in the area have information that could help with the investigation?