COLUMBUS – A preliminary report released yesterday by the Ohio State University Police Department indicates that more than 30 artworks were spray-painted or shot and at least eight employees of the Wexner Center for the Arts were terrorized during 7 minutes and 22 seconds of chaos on Nov. 29.
READ MORE: In The Columbus Dispatch
That’s when Dean Sturgis, a 63-year-old former security guard at the museum, walked in minutes after it opened, immediately began defacing artworks and eventually shot himself in the head and died.
Two patrons were in the museum when Sturgis entered, but the report doesn’t indicate where they were while the incident unfolded, and university police won’t say yet.
The report isn’t the university’s final word on the incident; spokesman Chris Davey said a final, still-more-detailed report is coming. He said the report released Thursday was produced at the request of Franklin County Coroner Dr. Anahi Ortiz, who said such reports are standard practice for Columbus police.
More than 100 words or phrase are blacked out on the three-page, single-spaced narrative, to hide the names of the artworks damaged, as well as details about the Wexner Center’s security procedures. Ohio State officials maintain that, despite Ohio law requiring records of public institutions to be made public, information about the artworks are a trade secret and thus can be withheld.