Officers grieve latest Ohio death
CINCINNATI — Lawenforcement officers mourned a 20-year veteran deputy on Friday, the fifth officer in the extended Cincinnati law-enforcement community to die in less than two months.
Uniformed officers from multiple departments packed a Batavia church for funeral services for Bill Brewer, a Clermont County sheriff’s office deputy who was gunned down while responding this past weekend to a man who said he was suicidal and had barricaded himself inside an apartment some 20 miles east of Cincinnati.
Another officer was wounded in the leg before the man was taken into custody at the apartment complex.
Clermont County Sheriff Steve Leahy called Brewer someone he could always count on “to do the right thing” and said he was reeling from his loss.
“I’m a mess. I’m a wreck,” Leahy told the church audience in services that were livestreamed by local news media. “I’m devastated.”
He said that Brewer. 42, gave his life “as a hero,” and said the wounds caused to others by his death will never completely heal.
“Bill is gone from us today, but his life and service will never be forgotten,” Leahy said, pledging to honor him by “carrying on his legacy” and to support the family Brewer leaves behind, Pallbearers carry the casket of Brewer, who was gunned down last weekend by a man who claimed to be suicidal. Another Clermont County deputy was injured in the shootings.
including his wife and 5-year-old son.
The sheriff lashed out during his eulogy, too, using an expletive to describe the suspect in the shootings.
Wade Edward Winn, 23, is in the Clermont County jail under a $10 million bond on charges of aggravated murder and attempted aggravated murder.
Prosecutors said in court Monday that Winn had faked killing himself at some point during the standoff, and the two deputies were shot through a wall when they tried to enter the apartment to assist him.
Winn’s lawyer, Jay Clark, said Winn has been under psychiatric care in the past. The attorney said he doesn’t think Winn “fully appreciates exactly what happened or how it happened.”
Tributes for Brewer this week included one on the U.S. House floor from Rep. Brad Wenstrup, a Republican whose district includes Clermont County. Wenstrup said Brewer “died trying to help a member of his
community as he always strived to do.”
Meanwhile, Dr. Lakshmi Sammarco said she has been wearing a black mourning band over her coroner’s badge since Dec. 17. That’s when a recently retired suburban police officer who worked for the Hamilton County coroner’s office killed himself, she said.
Three days later, a Cincinnati Police sergeant was found dead in a park after shooting himself.
Last month, a Colerain Township police veteran was killed when struck by a vehicle after responding to a crash scene, and a suburban Clearcreek Township officer on his way to work was killed in a head-on crash when another vehicle crossed the center line.
“Everybody in the law-enforcement community is truly shaken,” Sammarco told reporters this week. The Cincinnati-based coroner since 2012 said she can’t think of any comparable period for so many police deaths so close together.