Police light up night in support of officer

Nearly 50 marked cruisers and more than 100 people turned out Tuesday night to light up the night in support of an Ohio wildlife investigator shot in December while investigating illegal deer hunting.

Kevin Behr, a 25-year-veteran of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Wildlife, has had at least seven surgeries since he was shot Dec. 20 in Clinton

County. Although he is still hospitalized at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, “he is making progress,” according to a Jan. 14 update posted on the Strong as Behr fundraising page organized by Ohio Wildlife Lodge 143.

A Greene County man, Brian R. Liming, is accused of shooting Behr.

Liming, 43, of Caesarcreek Twp. southeast of Xenia, was in the woods hunting when he told investigators he fired a shot at a buck.

“Mr. Liming reports he heard someone screaming, so he ran and he found a man with a gunshot wound,” according to an affidavit from Clinton County Sheriff ’s Sgt. Doug Eastes filed Dec. 22 in Clinton County Municipal Court. The gunshot victim was identified as Behr.

Liming faces felony charges of assault and a weapons violation, and misdemeanors for hunting without a permit and for hunting on private property without permission.

Two men with Liming — Thomas J. Davis, 35, of Jefferson

Twp. near Jamestown in Greene County, and Bryan S. Achtermann, 36, of Midland in Clinton County — face misdemeanor charges.

Davis is charged with aiding an offender of prohibited activities for allegedly driving Liming that night. Achtermann is charged with hunting without a license and not having a deer permit. Both have Monday court dates: Davis for a pretrial hearing and Achtermann for a scheduling conference. None of the men is in custody.