Deputy, Gunman Die in Ohio Trailer Park Shootout

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - State and local investigators are piecing together events that led to the weekend's fatal shooting of an Ohio deputy, the death of a suspect and wounding of another police officer in a shootout that followed.

The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation is leading the probe, while the Clark County Sheriff's office will have an internal inquiry. Eight officers are on paid leave, normal procedure after a fatal police shooting.

Authorities on Sunday identified the suspect as 57-year-old Michael Ferryman. Deputy Suzanne Hopper was shot dead as she collected evidence at an Enon Beach mobile home park after a report of gunshots.

The Springfield News-Sun reports she is the first Clark County officer killed on duty since 1978.

Ferryman lived in the trailer where the gunfire broke out with police, Chief Deputy David Rapp said.

The standoff started after Deputy Suzanne Hopper was called to the trailer park to investigate a report of gunshots, authorities say. Hopper, who was married last year and had two children, was shot dead as she tried to photograph a footprint at the park, about 50 miles west of Columbus.

"I've got a silver trailer with a man with a shotgun in it. And I've got Suzanne down in front of that trailer," another officer called across the police radio.

Even as officers tried to rescue the dying deputy, negotiators tried to talk the suspect into surrendering, reports CBS News correspondent Cynthia Bowers -- an appeal that was met with a hail of gunfire, erupting into a ferocious firefight.

"They came in swarms. The guys were putting on flak jackets and running from tree to tree," said News-Sun photographer Marshall Gorby. "The next thing I know, I hear a shot fired and then several shots fired. The trailer is just coming apart in pieces, glass flying, metal flying. It was scary."

Sheriff Gene Kelly told reporters at a Sunday news conference that Hopper and the officer who accompanied her to the trailer park believed the shooter was no longer in the area when they began their investigation. Then, Kelly said, Ferryman's trailer door opened near Hopper.

"One shotgun blast was fired at a very close proximity, striking the deputy, and it was a fatal wound," he said.

Kelly has said responding police officers tried to talk to Ferryman - who had "a history" with the sheriff's office - when he fired on them from inside the trailer. A German Township officer was wounded in the ensuing gunbattle, in which "many, many, many" shots were fired by the suspect and eight officers, Kelly said.

The wounded officer, Jeremy Blum, was listed in fair condition Sunday at a Dayton hospital.

Authorities had yet to determine whether police gunfire killed Ferryman or he killed himself. Agents from the state crime lab are helping with the investigation into Hopper and Ferryman's deaths and are looking into Ferryman's background, Kelly said.

A girl who lives in the trailer park said she knew Ferryman and he had a temper.

"He was a quiet person, but if you made him mad - he wasn't very pleasant," 15-year-old Chelsea Bagley said Saturday.

Her mother's boyfriend, John Burkhardt, said police spent several minutes over a loud speaker asking Ferryman to come out of his trailer and surrender. He said police gave Ferryman "25 chances to walk out of there" but he refused and then "all hell broke loose."