GALLIPOLIS — Gallipolis Municipal Court Judge Margaret Evans bound over the criminal case of a Greenfield Twp. man charged with fatally shooting his neighbor to the Gallia County Grand Jury during a preliminary hearing held on the matter Wednesday morning.

Robert S. Comer, 18, is charged with murder for allegedly shooting Dustin Lennex, 22, on Dec. 1.

The state called four witnesses to testify during the preliminary hearing, following which Evans found probable cause that the crime had occurred by Comer’s hand.

The first witness to testify was Gallia County Coroner Dr. Daniel Whiteley.

Whiteley said he arrived at the scene of the shooting between 11 p.m. and midnight on Dec. 1 and found Lennex lying on his back on the front porch of a residence occupied by Comer. He found that Lennex had suffered a single gunshot wound to the upper abdomen and upon probing the wound he determined, in his opinion, that death had likely occurred due to exsanguination, or bleeding out, while Lennex was lying on his back, the same position that law enforcement found him in when they first arrived on scene.

Kristen Gandy of Columbus testified next.

She said that she and two other individuals arrived in Gallia County on the day of the shooting to go deer hunting. She said on the night of the shooting, she heard a commotion in Lennex’s residence, a mobile home situated on the same property as the house where Comer was residing.

She testified that she saw two males run out of the trailer and into Comer’s house before Lennex came outside yelling with his arms raised. At that point, she said, a man that she could not identify came outside of Comer’s house with a gun. She began to leave the area when she heard two shots. She continued on and was approximately a quarter of a mile from the scene when she heard a third shot.

Gandy returned to the scene where she said people were running around everywhere. She found that Lennex had been shot and she administered first aid to him. She testified that she thought he was still alive at that time.

Todd Dixon of Patriot, a cousin to Comer, was the third witness to testify.

He said that he was in the living room or front room of Comer’s residence when he heard an argument between Comer and Lennex. Dixon testified that he was sitting in a chair in the front room when Comer came in and got a gun. He said Comer came in visibly upset, cussing and punching a wall, and stated his intention to “shoot these (expletive deleted).”

Dixon said Comer opened the front door and fired a warning shot before coming back for more ammunition. He said Comer then fired another shot. At some point, he said Comer opened the front door and a screen door and both Dixon and Comer were shot with a 12 gauge slug fired by Cody Lennex, Dustin Lennex’s brother. The slug was said to have wounded Comer in the hip before lodging in Dixon’s wrist.

The final witness called by the prosecution was Det. Chad Wallace of the Gallia County Sheriff’s Office.

Wallace said that after interviewing Comer and Cody Lennex, among others, and observing the crime scene as well as Comer’s wound, he concluded that Cody Lennex had acted in self-defense and that Comer had committed this crime with the intention of causing the death of Dustin Lennex.

Upon cross examination by Comer’s court appointed attorney, Adam R. Salisbury, Wallace said that it appeared as though Lennex was standing on the porch when he was shot and Comer had fired the fatal shot from inside his residence.

Following these testimonies, the state moved that the case be bound over to the grand jury and Evans found sufficient evidence to do so. At this time the murder charge is an unspecified felony. The degree of the charge will be up to the discretion grand jurors.

The next session of the grand jury is scheduled for Thursday, Dec. 17.