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Shooting update on Hancock County shooting

SHERIFF SPEAKS — Hancock County Sheriff Ralph Fletcher addresses reporters at the county courthouse after a shooting that left one woman dead and three others, as well as the suspect, injured. -- Andrew Grimm

NEW MANCHESTER — Authorities say one woman is dead and three others injured after a shooting Wednesday evening in Hancock County.

Sheriff Ralph Fletcher said late Wednesday at a brief press conference at the Hancock County Courthouse in New Cumberland that police shot the suspect, who was taken to East Liverpool City Hospital and later airlifted to a Pittsburgh hospital.

No details were immediately released on the condition of the suspect, identified only as a white male, possibly in his 40s.

Fletcher and Chief Deputy Art Watson said investigators believe they have identified a motive for the shooting, but they declined to elaborate, saying the investigation is ongoing.

Authorities identified at least three crime scenes. At 7:40 p.m., the sheriff’s office received a report of a female shot in a rural area along Judge Drive, where they found the deceased victim.

At approximately 8 p.m., a second call was received, this one of an active shots-fired situation in the Red Barn Trailer Court, off of state Route 8 near Oak Glen High School. Officers responded and found a residence “shot up” from the outside. Inside was a woman with the gunshot wound to the abdomen, two additional injured people and a dog that had been shot.

The suspect appeared to have fled that scene after discharging his weapon, and police were able to establish a relationship between the two scenes.

Officials didn’t say whether the two other injured people inside the trailer suffered gunshot wounds.

Relationships between the suspect and the victims are under investigation.

Officers began receiving information on the vehicle the suspect was driving, described as a pickup truck, at that time.

At approximately 8:15 p.m., officers encountered the suspect’s vehicle on state Route 8 and attempted to get him to stop. Officers then used a “forced-stop” maneuver, leading to the end of the chase on Locust Hill Road after the suspect’s vehicle crashed into a residence.

“I’m not sure where the shooter was going at this time,” Fletcher said. “He was going at a high rate of speed when officers started coming upon him. Whether he was fleeing or going somewhere else to attempt more damage, we don’t know. The officers decided to make a forced stop. The vehicle ended up inside a residence, where he was trapped.”

At some point, law enforcement opened fire on the suspect and he was taken to a local hospital before being airlifted to a Pittsburgh hospital. The West Virginia State Police is investigating the officer-related shooting.

The suspect was described as a white male estimated to be in his 40s. He was the only person taken into custody, though witnesses were still being talked to by law enforcement.

Fletcher said law enforcement answered multiple unfounded shots-fired calls around the county after word of the New Manchester situation spread.

As the situation unfolded, Oak Glen High School was put on lockdown as a precaution as a soccer scrimmage was taking place between the Golden Bears girls’ soccer team and Steubenville High School.

Fletcher said there was no information that the school was in danger.

Fletcher and Watson praised and thanked the response from area emergency response agencies, including the West Virginia State Police, Weirton Police Department, Brooke County Sheriff’s Department, Chester Police Department, New Cumberland Police Department, West Virginia Department of Natural Resources, East Liverpool Police Department and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

“With the information coming in, it was all hands on deck,” Fletcher said. “It’s the type of cooperation you don’t always see in a lot of areas, I suppose. In a small county such as Hancock County we all know each other and work well together.

“All the officers, all the agencies work well together. We have trained together in the past. They all stepped up and did what they were trained to do, which is go towards the sounds of the bullets and then go into investigative mode.”

(Grimm can be reached at agrimm@herladstaronline.com)

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