Gunshot kills Montpelier native

2/14/2006

LIMA, Ohio - A woman shot to death in her apartment here Sunday has been identified as a recent Montpelier High School graduate, and the man charged with her killing was a fellow Ohio State University/Lima student, authorities said.

Linsi E. Light, 19, a freshman at OSU/Lima, was shot at 7:50 p.m. and pronounced dead at the scene. Miss Light, a Montpelier native and a 2005 graduate of Montpelier High School, was homecoming queen her senior year and was once president of the student council.

She lettered in cross country and track for four years and ran in regional cross-country competitions during her junior and senior years.

She also performed in the school's musicals for four years and was a member of the National Honor Society.

Ed Ewers, principal of Montpelier High, said Miss Light was "very well-liked," both by her peers and school staff.

He said counseling was made available to students and staff affected by her death.

Miss Light was enrolled in the premedical technology program, said Pam Joseph, director of communications at OSU/Lima.

About an hour after the shooting, Richard. M. Wegmann II, 19, of Springboro, Ohio, called police on a cell phone to ask directions to the police station, where he turned himself in, Lima Police Lt. Michael Keith said.

Mr. Wegmann, also a freshman at OSU/Lima and a business major, was charged with reckless homicide for the fatal shooting at the Coachman East Apartments, 1212 Bellefontaine Ave. He was arraigned in Lima Municipal Court yesterday before Judge Rickard Workman, who set bond at $10,000 and set a preliminary hearing for Feb. 17. Mr. Wegmann posted bond and was released from jail.

Conviction on the charge carries a maximum five-year prison term and a $10,000 fine.

Lieutenant Keith declined to comment on how the shooting occurred. An affidavit filed in Municipal Court charged only that Mr. Wegmann did "recklessly cause" Miss Light's death.

Lieutenant Keith said the victim and the suspect, who lived in different apartments at the east-side complex, had a relationship at one point, although he declined to elaborate.