Ohio standoff ends with 2 people slain

TOLEDO, Ohio — A man who charged out of his house and shot and killed an Ohio police officer after a two-hour standoff had repeatedly made incoherent statements to negotiators and vowed he wouldn’t be taken alive, the police chief said Wednesday.

Officers fatally shot Christopher Anderson, 27, on Monday, seconds after he opened his front door and began firing two handguns, Toledo Police Chief George Kral said.

One of the shots struck officer Brandon Stalker, who was crouched behind a police vehicle. Stalker, a 24-yearold who became an officer in 2018, died Monday at a hospital.

Police had been looking for Anderson because he was suspected of vandalizing the Rosary Cathedral in Toledo and setting fire to its doors last weekend.

Officers surrounded his house Monday after spotting him with a gun, Kral said. He then barricaded himself in before police used tear gas to force him out. Anderson managed to get off nine shots before several officers returned fire, striking him eight times, Kral said.

During the standoff, Anderson made several posts on social media, vowing not to go to jail and saying police would have to kill him, Kral said. Anderson also repeatedly made “wildly incoherent statements” and homicidal threats to police negotiators who talked with him on the phone, the chief said.

Family members told investigators that they believed Anderson suffered from mental illness, and they had sought help for him in the past, Kral said.