Dispatch Staff Reporter

A North Side man was shot to death early yesterday in a house that is directly behind a house where a man died in an arson fire about five weeks ago.

Neighbors are scared. They talk quietly of drugs, drug deals and the need for guns. They are afraid to speak out or get involved.

Omanoff Moreau, 29, was shot with a handgun about 1:30 a.m. yesterday by someone who burst into a duplex ranch house at 1051 Republic Ave. and called him by name, witnesses told Columbus police. Moreau, who was sitting on a sofa when he was shot, lived nearby at 2466 Hiawatha St.

It was the 91st homicide in Columbus this year. The city had 92 homicides in all of last year. The record was set in 1989 when 97 homicides occurred.

While police said they have no motive in the slaying, neighbors believe it is drug-related and connected to the slaying of Kenneth French, 39, of 1044 Loretta Ave.

French died July 7 of smoke inhalation and bums in a fire at his home. Tests showed that someone had splashed a flammable liquid in his bedroom and lighted it.

Police have said his death was a homicide.

An obituary written by French's family said he was "killed for fighting drugs in his neighborhood."

Several neighbors said one week ago a man was shot in the leg and buttocks in the house where Moreau was killed. Police have no record of the alleged shooting.

'¹People are in and out of there all the time," said one neighbor, who refused to give his name. "It starts every night about 11:30 p.m. The door slams every 10 minutes."

Another neighbor who has lived in the area for years said things have become much worse lately. "I don't do drugs. If they come on my property, we will be talking metal," the neighbor said, referring

to a gun.

Neighbors said it is not unusual to see people smoking crack or dealing drugs in the alley that separates the houses where Moreau and French were killed.

"It is getting too dam close to home," said a neighbor, who would not give his name.

Moreau was convicted of petty theft and unauthorized use of property last year, records in Franklin County Municipal Court show.

He served 30 days in jail on the petty theft charge and received a suspended sentence for unauthorized use of property, records show.