Dayton police officer shot in head; suspect critical after officer returns fire

The suspect, who also was not named, is in critical condition at Miami Valley Hospital.

The officer in the shooting responded around 6:45 p.m. to the Dollar General store on Gettysburg Avenue for a fraud complaint.

He then arrived on Ingram Street at 7:24 p.m. to look for the suspect, Carper said.

The officer made contact with a 39-year-old man believed to be the suspect in the rear of the 600 block of Ingram Street. He told the suspect to stop, when the suspect immediately struck the officer, Carper said.

“The officer used his Taser on the suspect, who went to the ground, retrieved a handgun and fired at least one round at the officer, striking the officer on the side of his head. The officer then returned fire, striking the suspect multiple times,” Carper said.

The officer, whose injuries were described as not life-threatening, was taken by another officer in a cruiser to the hospital. The suspect was taken by ambulance to the hospital.

The Dayton Police Department’s Violent Crimes Bureau is investigating the shooting, and the department’s Professional Standards Bureau is conducting an administrative investigation, Carper said.

“What started out as a fraud call quickly turned into a senseless, violent attack on a police officer,” Carper said.

At the hospital, police cruisers from area departments lined up outside and officers, both in uniform and off-duty, stood outside the emergency room doors in a show of support for the injured officer.

The last time a Dayton police officer was shot in the line of duty was on Nov. 4, 2019. Detective Jorge Del Rio was shot during a raid on Ruskin Road with a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration task force. He died of his injuries three days later.