Amplify’d from abcnews.go.com
It began with a sheriff's deputy investigating a report
of gunfire at a trailer park. By the time it was over, the
deputy and the suspected shooter were dead, and a
police officer was wounded in a gunbattle with the
suspect.
"This is the worst day of my entire law enforcement
career," said Clark County Sheriff Gene Kelly, who has
been sheriff for 24 years.
Deputy Suzanne Hopper was shot Saturday as she
tried to photograph a footprint in the Enon Beach
mobile-home park in western Ohio, Kelly said.
Hopper, who was married last year and had two
children, didn't have the opportunity to return fire or
take cover, he said.
Police officers were trying to talk to the shooting
suspect when he fired on them from inside a trailer,
and a German Township officer was wounded in an
exchange of gunfire, Kelly said. There were "many,
many, many" shots fired by the suspect and eight
officers, he said.
The wounded officer, Jeremy Blum, was hospitalized
in fair condition, a hospital supervisor said.
Authorities were still investigating and weren't ready
to say whether police gunfire killed the suspect,
whose identity wasn't released, Kelly said. It's
possible the suspect, who had "a history" with the
sheriff's office, killed himself, he said.
Enon Beach resident Angelina Inman said she looked
out of her trailer at the park, which sits near a
highway, to see the deputy lying on the ground. She
watched as another officer tried to reach her body.
"He was itching to get her," Inman said. "He kept
radioing in, can he please get her, and he was told no
because it wasn't secure. You could see that male
sheriff crying — he wanted to get her, he wanted to
get her bad."
Sgt. Dustin White had accompanied Hopper to the
and about 50 miles west of Columbus, and was
interviewing a family whose trailer had been shot at
when he heard Hopper scream, Kelly said.
"We believed we had an active shooter, which we did,
and we wanted to get her some medical attention, but
we didn't want to get anyone else shot," the sheriff
said.
Enon Beach acts as a seasonal campground with some
summer-only residents and others who live there
year-round. A portion of Interstate 70 was closed
twice for a total of about an hour because the trailer
park is so close to the roadway, Ohio State Highway
Patrol Lt. Gary Lewis said.
A girl who lives in the trailer park said she knew the
shooting suspect and he had a temper.
"He was a quiet person, but if you made him mad —
he wasn't very pleasant," 15-year-old Chelsea Bagley
said.
Her mother's boyfriend, John Burkhardt, said he heard
the shots fired in the neighborhood. Police then
arrived, Burkhardt said, and for several minutes
authorities asked the suspect over a loud speaker to
come out and surrender.
Burkhardt said. "They were begging him to come out,
but he wouldn't come out."
Shortly after, Burkhardt said, authorities opened fire
on the man's trailer.
"All hell broke loose," he said.
Police threw smoke grenades before storming the
trailer and finding the suspect dead, Kelly said.
He said he had hired Hopper in 1999 and had known
her since the police academy.
Hopper, 40, was known for her dedication to the job
and adherence to keeping herself safe, Kelly said. The
former officer of the year was wearing a protective
vest Saturday, but it didn't shield her from the gunfire
that killed her, he said.
"If she would have known there was a suspect in that
trailer she'd have never walked that way without
additional units and without taking cover," Kelly said.
Hopper once went six straight years without calling
in sick and often put on charity events for the Special
Olympics and other causes, Kelly said.
"Her personnel file is filled with accolades and
commendations and always service before self," he
said.
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