'RIP Chief:' Ohio town tries to cope
Kirkersville quietly mourns day after gunman killed 3, then himself.
Those driving down Main Street KIRKERSVILLE — in the tiny town of Kirkersville on Saturday morning might not have been aware of the horror that took place there just 24 hours before.
The town east of Columbus was mostly back to quiet business-as-usual with people mowing their lawns and kids playing in the sunshine a day after a gunman with a violent past took hostages behind a nursing home, killed the police chief and then shot his way into the Pine Kirk Care Center, killing two employees. Signs of the tragedy were subtle, but evident.
The American flag flew at half staff at the Kirkersville United Methodist Church across the street from the nursing home. Blue ribbons honoring the fallen chief, Steven Eric DiSario, were tied on poles throughout town.
In the alley where he was slain, someone has spray-painted “RIP Chief ” on the ground.
And the entry to the storefront police station, just steps from the nursing home, was turned into a memorial garden with flowers, stuffed animals, banners and American flags flying.
People stopped to sit on the steps facing the station and pray — or just silently grieve.
“Today is a day of healing,” said Kathy Rogers, who has lived in Kirkersville for
about 10 years and owns the shop next door to the police station.
Initial autopsy reports are expected by today, Licking County officials said, but by Friday evening officials had identified the shooter and all three victims, as well as outlined a picture of what happened just before 8 a.m. Friday as the town of Kirkersville was waking up. How it unfolded
Thomas Hartless, 43, who lived in Utica about 30 minutes to the north, hid in the woods behind the nursing home and took two hostages before DiSario arrived and was gunned down. He then entered the facility and killed nurse Marlina Medrano, with whom he had a past relation- ship, and nurse’s aide Cindy Krantz. He then turned the
gun on himself as the 23 resi- dents of the home and other employees barricaded themselves behind locked doors for safety.
One of the men who was held hostage lives in a home directly behind the nursing facility. His wife asked not to be identified. She said her husband is physically okay but mentally shaken.
He took the couple’s dog out for a walk early Friday morning and encountered Hartless, just down the alley at the edge of his property.
It’s believed Hartless was hiding out in the brush wait- ing for Medrano to come outside.
Instead, he took the man walking his dog hostage. When that man didn’t return, his wife called one of his coworkers to help in look- ing for him. That man also became a hostage of Hart- less but was able to call 911.
That’s when DiSario, a part-time officer who started his job as police chief just weeks before, responded. The police station is half a block from the nursing home.
After shooting DiSario, wit- nesses said, Hartless ran to the front of the nursing home and shot his way inside. It’s a secure facility that can’t be entered without being buzzed in.
Medrano, 46, and Krantz, 48, were identified late Fri- day as the two employees killed. Medrano reportedly lived in Newark. Krantz lived in nearby Pataskala.
No nursing home residents were injured, and they have not returned to the home after being transported to nearby hospitals on Friday. Members of a biohazard cleanup crew were the only people at the home on Saturday morning.
One of Medrano’s most recent posts on Facebook was of an image that reads, “Always leave people better than you found them. Hug the hurt. Kiss the broken. Befriend the lost. Love the lonely.”
Friends replied after her death that this post embodied her spirit, saying she always left people with a smile.
Court records show she tried to get protec t ion from Hartless, who served prison time for domestic violence incidents. There was an active protection order against him filed on May 5, just one week prior to the killings. In March, he pleaded guilty to multiple domestic violence charges involving Medrano. He was sentenced to 90 days in jail, but was released after fewer than 30 days, with the rest of his sentence suspended. He was placed on probation for a year.
Fallen officer honored
Michelle Bachelor, her sister Victoria Roles and other neighbors cut lengths of black ribbon to tie on poles all over town Saturday in honor of the victims, includ- ing their fallen police chief.
“I have many friends that are police officers, and it was her idea to do this because she lives here in this community,” said Roles, who is visiting from Maryland.
Bachelor lives catty-cor- ner from the Pine Kirk Care Center. She heard some commotion outside Friday morn- ing and then her son called.
“He said, ‘Get the shot- gun and take cover, there’s an active shooter in Kirkers- ville,’” she said.
Neighbors said it’s not uncommon to hear gunfire from nearby fields, but it was immediately evident this was something different.
“I thought I was dreaming at first because you don’t just walk outside and see some- thing like that,” said Deanna Kesterson, who lives down the block. She walked outside to put her son on the school bus but was met by an officer telling her to get back inside and that the school was on lockdown.
“They told us to go inside and lock our doors,” she said.
She and others said it was a huge shock as mornings in Kirkersville are usually quiet.
“People got up that morn- ing, got their coffees heading to work, think they’re going to go home to their families and someone just ruined it for a whole lot of people. Especially those kids. Very, very sad,” Kesterson said.
DiSario was a father of five, and his wife, Aryn, is preg- nant, due to give birth very soon, according to her step- mother who lives in Huber Heights.
Dozens of cars lined the street where DiSario lived in nearby Etna on Saturday as family and friends gathered to mourn. Multiple neighbors were flying black, white and blue American flags symbolizing a fallen officer. One flew above the sign at the entrance of the subdivision.
“My first thought was my neighbors,” said Kathy Rogers, who heard the shots as she was letting her dog out Friday morning. “I didn’t know any of the people, but they were our people. So it’s personal.” Many in the five-block-by-five-block town of about 500 residents were easily able to recall the last time there was a serious crime in Kirkersville. It was years ago when someone tried to rob the bank with a giant knife. The bank isn’t there anymore. “This is a speck on the map. This is just so random it could have happened anywhere,” Bachelor said.