Close-knit village in shock: ‘ This is the worst’

KIRKERSVILLE — Matthew Montgomery has never carried a key to his house.

In the 15 years that the 43-year-old has lived in the Licking County village of Kirkersville, he didn’t think it was needed.

“It’s quiet,” he said. “Everybody knows everybody.”

But it was terror and fear that gripped Montgomery’s safe cocoon of a community Friday morning, when the usual hum of traffic on Route 40/East Main Street was overtaken by the loud pops of gunshots and screams.

“A lady come down the sidewalk, just screaming, frantic, really stressed out, crying,” Montgomery said. “She said, ‘He came in and shot everybody,’ and she just kept running.”

By midday, the rest of the country would know the name of Montgomery’s little village. It flew from the lips of reporters, news anchors, elected officials and law-enforcement officers as local authorities announced that a gunman had taken two passers-by hostage in a wooded area before fatally shooting the local police chief, his exgirlfriend and another employee at the Pine Kirk Care Center, right in the center of town. The gunman, Thomas Hartless, was later found dead inside.

Friday morning’s events were unparalleled for the village of a little more than 500 people that is about 25 miles east of Columbus. It typically is protected by a small, part-time police department of no more than three officers, said Mayor Terry Ashcraft: the chief, an auxiliary officer and a third officer who currently is on military leave.

Nothing’s happened in Ashcraft’s 46 years in Kirkersville that matches the anguish of Friday morning, he said. “This is the worst.” “It was about 10 years ago, the last time I heard a gunshot,” Montgomery said, adding that it had been a resident who shot a raccoon.

The usually sleepy village is one of several “pike towns” in Licking County. Situated right along Route 40, it’s a community that was once lively thanks to traffic along National Road.

“They were bustling towns a century ago,” said Licking County Commissioner Tim Bubb.

Now, the hardware store, the grocery, the bank — even the corner bar that once was hopping — are no longer. Some of the homes along Route 40 in the village (just Main Street to the locals) appear deserted and rundown.

Still, those who continue to call it home cherish one another, said Matthew Van Winkle, pastor at Kirkersville United Methodist Church, across the street from the site of Friday’s tragedy. Van Winkle and church members threw the church doors open wide for nursing home patients, nurses, local officials, lawenforcement officers and other first-responders.

“It is a small town, but you have a lot of very close-knit relationships in the town,” Van Winkle said. “When somebody needs something, the community’s there for them.”

“It’s a sleepy little town,” said Licking County Prosecutor Bill Hayes, who was previously a member of the Ohio House of Representatives, serving the 72nd District that includes Kirkersville. “Just good, solid, American people, for the most part … this has gotta hit hard.”

Todd Merry and his family have lived in Kirkersville for about 30 years for a reason, he said.

“Nothing like this has ever gone on,” he said. “That’s one of the reasons people live in an outlying area: It’s because of the quietness, the slower pace, the quieter atmosphere, the no traffic, the no drama, the no shootings.”

After authorities announced that the scene was secured Friday morning, feelings of panic and uncertainty were replaced with grief and heartache as word spread that Steven Eric DiSario, the town’s new police chief, along with two nursing home employees — Marlina Medrano and Cindy Krantz — were all dead.

“We always look at Licking County as a pretty safe community,” said Sheriff Randy Thorp. “We see these tragic events happen all over the country, and to have it hit close to home like this is just unbelievable.”

For those who live in Kirkersville, where waves to neighbors are more an expectation than a courtesy, the town lost its innocence Friday morning.

“We always joked ...,” Montgomery said, stopping himself as his voice cracked and his eyes filled with tears. “We joke that it’s the safest neighborhood in America.

“I guess not.”