By Police1 Staff
LANCASTER, Ohio—A Lancaster police officer was one of three killed in an apparent double murder-suicide Tuesday morning.
Officers responded to a home around 1:20 a.m. on a report of shots fired.
According to detectives, officers found three bodies at the scene. Kevin Adams, 40, Stephanie Adams, 38, and Randy Bartow, 56, were shot.
Bartow, a two-year veteran of Lancaster police, was identified as Stephanie Adams’ boyfriend. Both were pronounced dead at the scene.
Kevin Kevin Adams, who was divorced from Stephanie Adams, was taken to Fairfield Medical Center, where he died about an hour later.
Family friend Kelly Bosch told NBC4 that Adams had received a call from his daughter, who hadn’t heard from her mother after work. When he went to his ex-wife’s home to investigate, he found her with Bartow. Detectives say an altercation occurred that led to the shooting.
Kevin Adams was previously convicted of illegally carrying a concealed weapon, and unlawful possession of dangerous ordinance, inducing panic and resisting arrest in 2007.
Bartow, who was a decorated Lancaster police officer who had been on the force since 1993, often received compliments from supervisors and citizens, 10 TV News reported.
“He was a true professional and a valued member of our agency,” Chief Aaron Miller told NBC4. “His passing is a great loss to the Lancaster community and to Ohio law enforcement.”