“They went upstairs to try to make contact with him,” he said. “Once they got upstairs the subject started shooting.”
The Clayton officer was shot in the arm and taken to Miami Valley Hospital. He was in stable condition and was in surgery late Thursday afternoon, Hamlin said.
It was not clear how many times the officer was shot, and no other officers were injured.
Hamlin said there was a family in the home at the time of the incident, including two adults and two children. Their ages were not immediately known.
The house was evacuated — with at least one person jumping from a second-story window — except for the shooter, who was barricaded inside, the chief said.
Montgomery County Sheriff Rob Streck said Montgomery County Regional SWAT was attempting to engage, with assistance from Dayton SWAT and Clayton Police before the suspect died.
“As of right now, they are deploying all kinds of tactics trying to make contact with the individual,” Streck said at about 4 p.m. “We do not believe there is anyone else in the house, so we will slow everything down and try to get that individual out as peacefully as we can so we ask for patience in this area. It is a SWAT mission right now.”
SWAT teams left shortly before 5 p.m., after which the sheriff’s office confirmed the suspect was found dead of a gunshot wound that was described as self-inflicted.
The suspect’s name was not released.
During the standoff, Hacker Road was closed in addition to Main Street between Greenview and Barrington drives. Main Street has since reopened, but police remained on Hacker Road.
Bee Tanner, who lives about 2 miles from the scene on Janice Place, said she’s never seen anything like Thursday’s police presence in the 25 years she’s lived in the area.
“There are police stops and a high-speed chase here or there but nothing outstanding,” she said.
Sandy Freeman, who has lived in the neighborhood for more than 20 years, said she never experienced anything like what happened on Thursday afternoon.
“I saw dozens and dozens of police officers’ cars coming up the road, Clayton, Englewood, sheriff’s department,” she said.
Parked in front of her yard was one of the SWAT teams, the command center for the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, and she also saw FBI agents.
Despite this, Freeman said with the enormous police presence, she felt entirely safe.
“I think it’s an isolated incident. It was quite scary. We’ve never had anything like this happen in the community before. It was a little bit unnerving,” she said.
About the Authors
