MAD RIVER TWP., Clark County — A woman who described herself as “best friends” with a man accused of shooting and killing a deputy Saturday said the altercation was “completely out of character.”

Maria Blessing, who has known Michael L. Ferryman for 16 years, had left the suspect’s home at Enon Beach Campground about an hour before shooting broke out. He is suspected of shooting and killing Clark County Sheriff’s Deputy Suzanne Waughtel Hopper and wounding another officer in the shootout. He was found dead of gunfire wounds in his trailer and an investigation into the incident is under way.

Blessing said Ferryman was calm when she left the trailer to go to the store Saturday morning.

“I was shocked,” she said of returning to the sight of law enforcement surrounding the home. “I still am.”

Health problems in recent years may have contributed to the incident, she said.

“He was just diagnosed with dementia and has had a lot strokes and seizures,” Blessing said.

The first officer responded to the campground when a resident reported that someone had shot at a trailer in the Enon Beach campground.

But Blessing denied that Ferryman had been having problems with any neighbors.

“It was a surprise because it wasn’t his character to be that way,” she said. “He was a very calm person, very loving and peaceful.”

Blessing expressed sympathy for Ferryman’s family, Hopper’s family and Blum and his family, as well as their fellow officers who were involved in Saturday’s events.

“I just want to say to them especially that I am sorry,” she said. “I’m just totally shocked. I don’t know what to say.”

When deputies came to investigate the original shooting report, Ferryman allegedly his trailer door and shot Deputy Hopper, according to a sheriff’s department account of the incident. He returned to his trailer and exchanged gunfire with law enforcement officials surrounding the trailer; Ferryman is suspected of shooting German Twp. Officer Jeremy Blum during the firefight.

Contact this reporter at (937) 328-0373 or mgildow@coxohio.com.