According to Fox 28, a south Columbus man is facing conspiracy to commit murder charge, and police say he offered an undercover officer $400 to kill two men. Xay Amnathphonthip, 56, is now in jail.
Police said Amnathphonthip also supplied a firearm and money for ammunition to the undercover officer. Investigators say they got a tip from a confidential informant in a narcotics case that Amnathphonthip was trying to hire someone to kill the men.
Police said the two intended victims had been friends of Amnathphonthip, but there was a dispute between them in August. Amnathphonthip told investigators it was financial in nature, but they didn’t have any other details about the dispute.
Police said the two men were shocked when they learned they were the targets of Amnathphonthip’s plot. “They were surprised, they were stunned,” said Sgt. Rudolph, who didn’t want to give his first name because of his undercover work.
Rudolph said Amnathphonthip is an out-of-work sheet metal worker. Police arrested him at his Hanford Avenue home just south of German Village Wednesday night. No one answered the door at his home Thursday.
