The first caller at 4:02 a.m. reported a man waving his hands at cars saying that he needed help. The caller said that the man was wearing no shirt by was walking down the hill on Wayne Avenue.
That call was followed shortly by another at 4:03 a.m. This caller told dispatchers that he had seen a man flashing a light on the street, and when the caller rolled down his passenger-side window the man pulled open the door and stole a gun that was lying on the seat.
A final caller at 4:06 a.m. told dispatchers that a man had shot at them as they drove past, and described a minivan in the area with its door open.
Biehl said police arrived on the scene at 4:08 a.m. to find Keirns holding a gun, and at 4:09 a.m. police reported that shots had been fired and dispatchers issued a call for officer assistance.
In dashcam video, police can be heard ordering Keirns to drop the weapon before shots were fired.
Biehl said they were unsure how many times Keirns was hit but it was at least three times.
Biehl said that Keirns had fired seven seven rounds from the stolen weapon before police arrived, and that he has a history of volatile behavior and drug abuse.
Keirns did not fire at police, but Biehl said the gun was still loaded.
“This person posed a lethal threat,” Biehl said.
No officers were injured during the incident.
Biehl said that police were unsure what Keirns fired at aside from the third caller’s vehicle.
Police responded to the 1700 of Wayne Avenue near Esther Price around 4:03 a.m. on a shots fired call, according to 911 dispatchers.
When officers arrived and found the man, the encounter led to a shooting, police said.
Prior to officers arriving, the man had reportedly been waving down cars in the area. One motorist stopped to check on the man, Dayton Police Chief Richard Biehl said to local media today.
In a 9-1-1 call, a man describes how the gun was allegedly taken.
“This guy was flashing a light in the street. He got right in front of my van. I stopped,” the caller said. “He came around to my passenger seat. He opened up the door. He said ‘you got get me to the police station. You got to help me. They’re after me.’ I had my firearm sitting on the passenger seat. He grabbed my gun. He ran off and he is firing. I don’t know where he went but I can hear the shots.”
In another 9-1-1 call, a person says that the shooter was shooting at people.
“He was in the middle of the road. He pointed the gun at us,” the second caller said.
“All we heard was gunshots. He came out into the road and pointed the gun at us,” the second caller said.
Officers ordered the man to drop the gun, and officers fired at him.
Wayne Avenue was closed between Wyoming and Anderson streets and reopened just after 8 a.m.
Businesses damaged by rocks on Watervliet Avenue were also linked to the shooting.
Owner Patrick Reed said found a rock inside the restaurant and glass windows on both sides shattered.
Angie’s Firehouse Tavern was one of multiple businesses with window damage Thursday morning.
“Turns out the other business owners were coming out on the street and saying they had been targeted,” he said. “All the way from Taco Bell all the way down the street, everybody had damage to their front windows.”
He said a Dayton police officer told him that the person who damaged the windows was involved in a shooting on Wayne Avenue.
“So this whole scenario is tied together somehow,” he added. “We don’t have any details on why or what happened with this guy.”
We will continue to update this story as information is released.
