By MARK GILLISPIE and ANDREW WELSH-HUGGINS,Associated Press
CLEVELAND (AP) — Reports show that police in Westerville, where two officers were fatally shot at a home, had previously gone to the residence for domestic violence calls.
UPDATE (2/10/18 10:OO p.m.): Quentin Smith has been charged with two counts of aggravated murder. Authorities filed the charges against the 30-year-old Smith late Sunday afternoon.
Westerville police officers Eric Joering and Anthony Morelli were killed early Saturday afternoon while responding to a 911 hang-up call at a townhome where the suspect, 30-year-old Quentin Smith, was wounded.
Police went to the townhome where Smith lives with his wife and young daughter on possible domestic violence three times since September. No arrests were made.
A November call came from Smith’s wife, who said Smith cheated on her and gave her a sexually transmitted disease.
Smith’s mother called police when officers went to the home this January.
The officers were responding to a 911 hang-up call when they were shot. Westerville Police Chief Joe Morbitzer says they were answering a “potential domestic situation.” A neighbor who heard the gunfire said it happened at a home where the occupants were “always arguing and fighting.”
“The officers gave their lives in defense of others,” Morbitzer said during a news conference, struggling to keep his emotions in check. He called them “true American heroes.”
Smith, who police were once warned “carries a gun all the time” was taken into custody, authorities said.
Authorities said Smith was wounded and was treated at a hospital.
In a Nov. 29 incident, Candace Smith went to a police station and asked about protection orders because she said she and her husband weren’t getting along and she discovered she had a sexually transmitted disease. She also told police that when she “threatens to leave Quentin, he tells her that he would kill her, their daughter, and himself,” the report said.
Candace Smith told police her husband “has a gun that he carries all of the time, and if it isn’t on him, it is close by.” Police were called to the home later that night to investigate a report of domestic violence.
Smith was sentenced to three years in prison in 2009 on a burglary conviction with an added enhancement of having a gun. He left prison in 2011 and was released from parole, called community control in Ohio, in November 2013, according to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.
The Columbus Police Department is investigating the shootings.
I've spoken with Westerville's city leaders and Chief Morbitzer and pledged whatever support they need from the highway patrol. We extend our prayers and deep condolences to their families and fellow officers. Let’s pledge ourselves to never forget their service. (2/2)
— John Kasich (@JohnKasich) February 10, 2018
Governor John Kasich, who lives with his family in a nearby township, tweeted that he was “very saddened to learn of the deaths of two of my hometown police officers.” He asked Ohio residents to join him in “lifting up these officers’ families in prayer.”
President Donald Trump has called Kasich to express condolences over the deaths of two police officers.
Just spoke to @JohnKasich to express condolences and prayers to all for the horrible shooting of two great police officers from @WestervillePD. This is a true tragedy!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 11, 2018
“My thoughts and prayers are with the two police officers, their families, and everybody at the @WestervillePD,” Trump tweeted earlier.
Joering was a 16-year police veteran and Morelli was a 30-year veteran.
“These were two of the best we have,” said Morbitzer. “This was their calling.”
He added, that they “both gave their life for the protection of others and that’s what they lived and breathed.”
Trea Horne, 17, told The Associated Press he was upstairs in the townhome he shares with his mother when he heard five or six gunshots early Saturday afternoon. He said he came downstairs and saw police cars racing to a townhome directly across the street.
A couple had moved into the home about eight months ago, he said. “They’re always arguing and fighting,” said Horne, who graduated from Westerville South High School in December.
Jennifer Ripperger, 46, said her neighborhood of townhomes has a mix of owners and renters. She said heard police pulling up on Saturday and watched as officers nearly dragged firefighters toward the residence where the officers had been shot.
“I’ve never known anything like this to happen,” said Chad Temple, 32, who lives directly behind the townhome where the shooting happened. “It just kind of surprises me (that) in Westerville this happened.”