COLUMBUS, Ohio, Jan. 2 (UPI) -- Officers in Enon, a small town in southwestern Ohio, say they still don't know what sparked a shooting that left an officer and a gunman dead.
Deputy Suzanne Waughtel Hopper, 40, a married mother of two, was shot and killed and a township officer shot in the shoulder and seriously wounded when they responded to a report of gunfire in the village west of Springfield New Year's Day, the Dayton Daily News reported.
The Daily News said the alleged gunman has been identified as Michael L. Ferryman.
A neighbor, Angelina Inman, 34, said she had known Ferryman a few months.
"I don't know what would drive him to do something like that. … He's a nice guy, he'd do anything to help you out," Inman said.
Inman said she also knew the slain deputy, calling her "a good woman".
Clark County Sheriff Gene A. Kelly said prior to Saturday, none of his deputies had died in the line of duty, The Columbus Dispatch reported.
"This is the worst day of my 24 years as the sheriff of Clark County," Kelly said.
"She's the kind of deputy you'd want to come to your house. We are an agency and a community that will mourn this loss for a very long time".
Hopper and another officer were the first to respond to calls of a shooting at the Enon Beach campground. Kelly said the campground includes seasonal and year-round residents.
After arriving at the scene, Hopper was preparing to photograph footprints when she was hit by a shotgun blast.
"If she had any inkling that there was a suspect or that there would be trouble, she never would have put herself in that situation," Kelly said.
Soon additional officers arrived and a gunfight broke out. Kelly said officers threw smoke grenades at the trailer where the suspect was holed up, and when they went inside they found him dead.
The sheriff did not identify the suspect.
During the shootout, German Township Police Officer Jeremy Blum was shot in the shoulder. He was in fair condition at Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton. UPI
