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ROSSBURG (AP) -- A man holed up in a house in this western Ohio town with a gun held sheriff's deputies at bay for more than 12 hours, firing at them even after the house caught fire, a sheriff said Friday.
Darke County Sheriff Toby Spencer said a body, believed to be the gunman, was recovered later from the smoldering home.
Spencer said deputies were called to the home Thursday night by a neighbor who asked them to check on the safety of a woman inside. When deputies arrived, a woman came to the door and told them a man inside had a gun.
''They just grabbed her and got her out of the house,'' Spencer said.
The sheriff said the gunman then began firing at deputies through the windows. About 20 nearby homes were evacuated while deputies tried to negotiate with the gunman. ''He kept challenging and taunting my officers,'' Spencer said. He said the gunman threatened to kill people in the area and set the house on fire.
About 6 a.m. Friday, deputies fired tear gas into the home. Spencer said the house caught fire shortly after, but that he doesn't know what caused it.
''All through the fire he kept talking to us,'' Spencer said.
The sheriff said deputies never returned fire. He wasn't sure what the man's relationship with the woman was or why he was shooting at deputies. |
