Undercover drug detective fatally shot

A Cleveland police detective who had just joined a federal violence task force was shot and killed in his unmarked car along with a police informant during a drug operation, officials said Friday.

Three people have been arrested in the shooting that killed Detective James Skernivitz, 53, and another man on Thursday night. Cleveland Safety Director Karrie Howard said at a news briefing Friday afternoon that two juveniles and an adult taken into custody for unrelated arrest warrants are being questioned. Their names have not been released.

Scott Dingess, 50, has been identified by the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s Office as the other man killed inside Skernivitz’s car.

An emotional Police Chief Calvin Williams did not provide details about the shootings during the briefing.

“It could have been random, it could have been targeted,” Williams said. “We don’t know. We’re still investigating.”

Skernivitz and Dingess were shot around 10 p.m. Thursday on the city’s west side. A Cleveland police official knowledgeable about some details of the shooting, but who was not authorized to speak publicly, told The Associated Press that Skernivitz was working undercover as part of a drug operation and that Dingess was a police informant.

Jeff Follmer, president of the Cleveland Police Patrolmen’s Association, said there were no other officers in the area when the two men were shot.

Skernivitz was a 25-year veteran. Williams at Friday’s briefing called him a “policeman’s policeman.”