Trish Bennett, Editor
MT. STERLING – A local man is dead after an officer-involved shooting early Tuesday morning on Five Points Pike.
The identity of the victim, described as a 45-year-old male, has not yet been released, according to Sheriff Robert Radcliff, Pickaway County Sheriff’s Office.
The incident is being investigated by the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office and the Bureau of Criminal Investigation through the Ohio Attorney General’s office, he said.
While details are currently scarce, Radcliff said the incident began about 1:22 a.m. when dispatchers received a call transferred from the Madison County Sheriff’s Office about a man who had contacted a suicide crisis hotline for veterans.
Two deputies were dispatched to the residence at 18290 Five Points Pike, Radcliff said, where they were confronted by the male with a long gun outside the home.
Radcliff said the deputies immediately requested back-up, and units en route included two nearby Madison County units, additional Pickaway County deputies and a Pickaway County negotiator.
“Before we could get that far, about 10 minutes into it, the call came out that shots had been fired and we had an officer-involved shooting,” Radcliff said.
He said family members of the man were inside the residence at the time of the shooting, but none of them were involved at the scene, and they were unaware of the incident unfolding outside.
Both deputies, whose identities also have not yet been released, have been placed on administrative leave pending the investigation, Radcliff said. By department policy, the leave is standard procedure for officers involved in fatal shootings as the investigation continues and until they are deemed emotionally prepared to return to work.
“Through the Fraternal Order of Police, we have a team that will come in and talk to them,” Radcliff said. “Our chaplain was also on the scene with us last night, not only for the deputies but the individual’s family, as well. But we always make sure those services are available to them.”
He said the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office was requested to investigate the incident as an objective third-party agency outside the local jurisdiction, which also is standard procedure in officer-involved investigations.
More information will be released as it becomes available, he said.
This article originally appeared on The Pickaway News Journal
