WAYNE COUNTY, Ohio (Court TV) — A 32-year-old Ohio man upset over a child custody arrangement hid in the woods near an intersection and opened fire at his daughter’s maternal grandmother as she left her job during her lunch break.
Noah Bays (WKRC)
Noah Bays was sentenced to 32 years in prison on Monday after he pleaded no contest in May to two counts of attempted murder and four counts of felonious assault, among other charges. The Warren County Prosecutor’s Office said the shooting happened on Oct. 27.
Bays drove some 50 miles from his home in Piqua to the intersection of Lytle and Ferry roads in Wayne Township. Holding an AR-15, Bays concealed himself in a tree line for about 20 minutes and waited for the grandmother of his daughter to leave work on her lunch break. Bays and the grandmother, who had full custody of the girl, were embroiled in a child custody dispute. When he saw the grandmother’s car enter the intersection, he opened fire.
Bullets flew into her car, hitting the grandmother in the leg. Shots entered another vehicle, injuring the driver. Another round hit an occupied house across the street.
“I believe that he had every intention of killing me that day,” the victim said at sentencing, according to a courtroom report from local CBS affiliate WKRC. “It was the most terrifying experience of my life and I think about it every day. It has changed the way I think and my sense of safety I once had. It’s impossible to fully explain what it feels like to come within inches of losing your life at the hands of someone you had known for so long and once trusted.”
Judge Timothy Tepe admonished Bays.
“I am shocked by your conduct. I am shocked by what I perceive is your lack of remorse, your lack of accountability,” he said.
Bays did not address the court.
In a statement, Prosecutor David P. Fornshell said Bays wanted to kill the woman so he could gain custody of his daughter. His actions proved the girl was “right where she needed to be all along,” Fornshell said.
