Three Ohio policemen were shot, two of them several times, when an armed man opened fire against two of them while ate a pizza lunch in his patrols on Wednesday, said the police chief in Lorain.
The armed man, who said that the police were shot fatally on the scene, had an “arsenal” of arms and was “lying on waiting” when he opened fire against the patrol vehicles parked around 1:05 pm, the interim police chief Michael Failing said.
Mayor Jack Bradley said: “It’s a tragic day in the city of Lorain.”
Two officers had bought a pizza and were parked next to each other in their patrols in the dead end of Missouri Avenue when the gunman, who was also parked in the dead end, opened fire, Failing said.
One of those officers was shot in his hand, and the second was shot several times, Failing said. A third officer who listened to the aid call and was driving to attend also received several shots, he said.
The two officers who were shot several times were transferred to a hospital in Cleveland. They were critical, Bradley said.
The investigation is being managed by the Police Department in Elyria, a neighboring city, because it was a shooting involved by officers, authorities said.
The gunman was identified on Wednesday only as a 28 -year -old white man with a last known direction in Lorain.
“This was an ambush situation,” said Elyria’s Chief, James Welsh, to journalists.
The gunman opened fire against the officers with a “high -power rifle,” Welsh said. The police returned the fire, he said.
The shooting took place in an unvotable industrial park that has paths to walk and some streets, Failing said.
The officers who responded to the aid call charged the wounded officers in patrol vehicles and took them to the hospital, he said.
The governor of Ohio, Mike Dewine, called on the shooting a “horrible shooting involved in the officer in Lorain, which seems to have been an objective attack against the police.”
“Fran and I are praying for the three officers of the Lorain Police Department who were shot in the fulfillment of duty today, and our thoughts are also with their families, friends and other officers in the Northeast of Ohio,” Dewine said.
He was asked if he had any information about the gunman and gave a blunt answer.
“I have no idea who it is, and I don’t care,” Failing said.
Lorain and Elyria are cities of around 65,000 and 53,000 around 25 miles west of Cleveland.
