4 dead, including police chief, in shooting at Ohio nursing home

KIRKERSVILLE, Ohio – A gunman fatally shot the police chief of an Ohio village and two nursing home employees Friday, and the suspected gunman was also found dead, a sheriff said.

Licking County Sheriff Randy Thorp identified the slain police chief as Steven Eric Disario, who headed the Kirkersville Police Department.

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Disario, 36, had only been on the job for about three weeks, Thorp said. He said the chief was a father of six children, with a seventh on the way.

“It’s a hard day for all of us,” Thorp said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "It's a hard day for all of us," Thorp said.

Disario was responding to a report of a man with a gun, and his last radio communication said he had the suspect in sight, Thorp said.

Responding officers found Disario on the street and then investigated a report of a gunman in the nearby Pine Kirk Care Center, Thorp said.

Two employees of the centre and the suspected gunman were found dead inside the nursing home, the sheriff said.

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He said police weren’t immediately able to positively identify the gunman and were trying to determine what, if any, relationship he had with the nursing home.

The shooting closed down the main street in the village, which was flooded with police officers from several surrounding agencies and with ambulances.

The state Bureau of Criminal Investigation is leading the probe into what happened.