“I think they used a massive amount of restraint considering in two different incidents they were being shot at,” Graf said late Saturday at the scene. “But my heart goes out to the family that was involved in this because they lost a relative.”
The man had not been officially identified Saturday night.
The standoff happened in a northeast Springfield neighborhood of Apollo Avenue near Olympic Street and not far from East Home Road.
‘Out of the line of fire’
Graf described what happened, saying officers were dispatched to a domestic disturbance shortly after 10 a.m. Saturday.
As the responding officer approached, she received gunfire toward her vehicle.
“She threw her car into reverse and got out of the line of fire,” Graf said, noting that bullets struck the cruiser several times.
He said the officer was not physically injured.
More officers responded and were told the man was “armed with what appeared to be a high-powered rifle and maybe some other firearms and was refusing to come out,” the chief said.
After SWAT team officers arrived on scene, they thought he might surrender at one point, Graf said.
“They were moving up in position in order for him to do that,” the chief said. “The gentleman opened fire on the SWAT team.”
The man reportedly fired around 20 rounds at the SWAT officers. No one was injured and no one returned fire.
The chief said they requested assistance from the Ohio Highway Patrol SWOT team, and they worked together to get the man to surrender.
“We were negotiating throughout the day. About 4 pm talks broke down,” Graf said.
The SWAT team moved up front, and the man “opened fire on them, and it was continuous fire, striking our armored vehicles numerous times.”
Graf said officers then returned fire and potentially wounded the man then.
He retreated and officers used tear gas, too.
“We heard a gunshot, and later we found this gentleman deceased,” Graf said.
He said he had been in contact with the family. He also said: “I don’t see any incorrect actions on the officers parts.”
“Only when he got into a sustained, engaged firefight and when we had officers pinned down did we return fire in self defense,” Graf said.
“I regret that it ended the way it did. SWAT is here to save lives… but it just didn’t end that way today,” he said.
Neighbors scramble to safety
A neighbor said one of the bullets fired by the man in the standoff went through their wall, shattered a glass picture frame and sent his family scrambling to the safety of their basement for hours.
Officers at the scene Saturday night confirmed the investigation into the incident has begun and is expected “to last a long time.”
Some neighbors who had been evacuated under police cover earlier were being allowed to return Saturday night.
Police often were heard telling the man to come out with his hands up.
A neighbor who lives on Apollo Avenue described what they heard and saw as shots were fired.
“At 10:15 this morning we heard a big crash in our house, and we went running around the house to see what broke,” said the neighbor, who asked not to be identified by name. “We thought one of the dogs or animals knocked something over.”
Instead, the family found a bullet hole in the wall.
“It went across the room and hit a framed picture and broke the glass in the frame,” he said.
They saw police officers were outside.
“And I saw a man walking with a gun … without any shoes on,” the man said.
“At that point we all said let’s hit the basement.”
They remained in the basement for hours.
“About 3:30 p.m. we were evacuated by police,” the neighbor said.
Roads were blocked in the area around Apollo Avenue and Olympic Street for several hours.
When the standoff appeared to end about 7:20 p.m., crews repositioned for street closings and added crime scene tape to the area at the intersection of Apollo and West Mile Road.
At least one medic was on the scene for most of the day.
Our photographer on the scene reported hearing at least 20 shots fired before police pulled back. It is not clear how the situation began.
The Clark County Sheriff’s Department, Ohio State Highway Patrol special response team, Springfield Fire Department all were on the scene to assist the Springfield Police Division.
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