Gunman, hostage dead in Ohio standoff

WILLARD, Ohio Many questions remained Thursday in a police investigation into a standoff at a small-town Family Dollar store in northern Ohio that ended in the deaths of a hostage and her alleged abductor.

Police identified the hostage as Kim A. Kelley of New Washington, southwest of Willard. But they couldn't immediately confirm her age. Willard police Chief Mark Holden said earlier he didn't know what the gunman's motive was in taking hostages at the store Wednesday.

Holden said the standoff ended when the man with a .22-caliber rifle killed the woman and then himself. The chief identified the man as 19-year-old Shawn Schuett, originally from Mansfield.

Holden said that during negotiations, Schuett didn't ask for anything except some Chinese food. Schuett told negotiators that he had not come there to rob the store.

"He made one demand, and it was for General Tso's chicken," Holden said at a news conference Wednesday.

Schuett forced a woman at gunpoint to drive him to the store, but he let her go when he got there, Holden said. Once inside, he barricaded the front of the store with carts and shelving units and took two employees hostage just before 5:30 p.m. A number of police agencies, including hostage negotiators, responded. Several of Schuett's relatives also were at the scene.

About 8 p.m. Wednesday, after one hostage managed to escape out a back door, officers broke through the front window and stormed the store to find the gunman and hostage shot. The hostage died later at a hospital.

Willard, with a population of about 6,000 people, is 90 miles north of Columbus.