The original complaint came from one of Ferryman’s neighbors who reported that someone had fired a shot into their trailer, residents said Monday.
Ferryman allegedly fired the shot because he believed the neighbor’s dog had defecated in his yard, a neighbor said.
When Hopper arrived at the scene to investigate, Ferryman reportedly stepped out of his front door and shot her.
Saturday’s shootout was eerily similar to an incident Ferryman had with deputies and police in southeast Ohio nine years ago.
According to information in the Morgan County Herald, he had also fired at deputies in Morgan County in 2001, although no one was hurt in that incident.
Information from the Morgan County Herald showed that in 2001, Ferryman was at a campground with his girlfriend, Maria Holsinger-Blessing. Deputies responded to a complaint that Ferryman had fired a weapon at another camper, and when they arrived, Ferryman fired on the deputies, forcing them to back away.
He was eventually taken into custody after a 26-hour standoff. However, he was found mentally incompetent to stand trial, according to information in the Columbus Dispatch.
Prosecutors and Morgan County Sheriff’s officials were not available for comment Monday morning.
After he was found unfit to stand trial, Ferryman was admitted to the Timothy B. Moritz Forensic Unit, a maximum security psychiatric facility on the campus of the state’s Twin Valley Behavioral Healthcare campus in Columbus, for competency restoration to stand trial.
According to the Ohio Department of Mental Health, he was discharged back into the court system in 2003, but was found not guilty by reason of insanity.
He was re-admitted to Moritz on May 1, 2003, and was transferred to Appalachian Behavioral Healthcare in Cambridge, a facility that’s now closed but previously served Morgan County.
He was conditionally released from that facility in 2005 after the Morgan County courts approved a discharge plan with Mental Health Services of Clark County and a forensic monitor overseeing his progress, according to state records. He was released to Clark County because it was determined that Ferryman had a support system here, said Trudy Sharp, Ohio Department of Mental Health communications director.
Dr. James Perry, director of Mental Health Services of Clark County, said he couldn’t release any information related to Ferryman, citing patient confidentiality.
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