By Ryan Dunn
The Blade
TIFFIN, Ohio — A gunman was killed and a Seneca County sheriff’s deputy struck in the shoulder during a shootout Tuesday in a rural neighborhood just outside Tiffin.
Sheriff William Eckelberry did not release the names of anyone involved Tuesday, but said he believes law enforcement officers acted appropriately.
The incident began as a domestic dispute call at 1:26 p.m. Tuesday at a Tiffin residence. Police were alerted to a man with a rifle in the 100 block of Schonhardt Street. A woman there said her former boyfriend tried to remove her from her car, and she ran for safety between the houses, authorities said.
About a half hour later, a 911 caller told the sheriff’s office the same man barged into a residence in the unit block of North Tecumseh Drive. He threatened to shoot the woman’s son and stabbed him, police said.
The woman then grabbed her son and took him to the hospital, according to police.
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Tiffin police and sheriff’s deputies responded to the Tecumseh Drive residence. The gunman was shot about 2:06 p.m. by one of the law enforcement officers, police said.
The deputy was hit in the shoulder and the bullet went through his body. Both he and the male stabbing victim are recovering at Mercy Health St. Vincent Medical Center. Two Tiffin police vehicles were shot multiple times.
Ohio’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation is reviewing who fired first, Sheriff Eckelberry said.
“We’re going to wait for the investigation to determine who fired the round and the autopsy,” he said.
Sheriff Eckelberry said only twice in his career has he heard “shots fired” over the scanner.
“It’s a feeling you can’t describe to hear that on the radio, because you want to be here, and you can’t get here quick enough,” Sheriff Eckelberry said.
Mackenzie Hanna and Timothy McCluskey described hearing repeated gunshots outside Ms. Hanna’s neighboring home.
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They barricaded inside after shots were fired, said Mr. McCluskey, 26, of Findlay.
“As soon as I start hearing the gunfire getting closer and closer, that’s when I took her back in the house,” he said.
In 12 years at the residence, Ms. Hanna said the street has been consistently quiet. Suddenly, it seemed “like sirens were coming from all directions,” she said.
Ms. Hanna, 20, saw the deputy lying on the street from his gunshot wound.
“I got kind of choked up when I heard, ‘Officer down,’ because I don’t want to see our deputies down. They fight for us,” she said.
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©2017 The Blade (Toledo, Ohio)