911 caller reports ex-worker firing gun prior to officer-involved shooting in Troy

Credit: Parker Perry

Credit: Parker Perry

A former employee at a Troy manufacturing facility fired shots into the air outside the building prior to an officer-involved shooting Thursday night, dispatcher records say.

Just before 9:15 p.m. two 911 callers who identified themselves as workers at Hobart Filler Metals on Kings Chapel Drive reported a man outside the facility firing a gun.

One of the callers identified the man as a former worker, according to dispatch records.

“He just pulled up like two minutes ago, pulled out a pistol and started shooting in the air,” the caller told a 911 dispatcher.

The second caller said he was outside with two other workers when the suspect arrived. They ran into a cornfield once he fired the gun, according to 911 records.

“All I know is I heard a bullet ricochet by me,” the second caller said.

The suspect got into a red pickup truck shortly before the first officer arrived the on the scene, according to the first 9-1-1 caller. The suspect then reportedly drove over a curb and headed south on Kings Chapel Drive with two police officers following him.

At 9:20 p.m., officers reported shots were fired, according to dispatch records.

“I think he’s been shot,” the dispatch log read. “Send a medic.”

Ty N. Thomas, 37, of Piqua, was charged Friday for discharge of a firearm in a building, failure to comply with the order or signal of a police officer and having a weapon while under the influence for an incident that occurred Thursday at the facility, according to Miami County Municipal Court records.

The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation is investigating the officer-involved shooting.

“The Bureau of Criminal Investigation was requested by the Troy Police Department to investigate an officer-involved shooting that occurred Thursday evening,” said Steve Irwin, a spokesman for the Ohio Attorney General’s Office. “BCI was requested to lead the investigation and its Crime Scene Unit and Special Investigations Unit responded to collect evidence and begin our investigation.”

Hobart Filler Metals declined to comment due to the ongoing police investigation.