Springfield Township police shoot, kill man accused of shooting at them Wednesday

This story has been updated

Latest:Man killed Wednesday after shooting at Springfield police identified

Springfield Township police shot and killed a man accused of shooting at officers about 11:30 a.m. Wednesday at the man's home off East Waterloo Road.

The Summit County Medical Examiner's Office confirmed that the shooter, a 38-year-old male, died. The medical examiner's office said an autopsy will be done Thursday and the office will put out another update after next of kin are notified.

The shooter, who has not been identified, was taken to Summa Akron City Hospital, township police said in a news release. The shooting happened at a residence in the 2300 block of East Waterloo Road, police said. The location is in a mixed residential and commercial area near Canfield Road and Springfield Lake.

"The shooting occurred during a follow-up investigation of a zoning law violation at a residence in the township," the department said in the release. "While conducting the investigation, the officers were shot at by the property owner. The officers returned shots, incapacitating the shooter."

The officers were not injured, the department said.

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Andrea Dalton, a neighbor of the man who died, said the zoning dispute apparently involved vehicles parked on the man's property that the township wanted to be removed. The township had removed two trucks over the winter and came to the property Wednesday to remove a third vehicle, she said.

"He had two that were already hauled off," Dalton said. "They gave him chance after chance."

She said the man kept to himself, and other neighbors said the same.

"In six years I've only seen him three times," she said.

Dalton said she gave investigators a digital audio recording of the shooting but she did not have video of the incident. She was not home at the time of the shooting. On the recording, she said police could be heard shouting for the man to put down a gun.

Danielle Shackelford and Jeff Woods II were in the bedroom when they heard shots near the man's house. The couple live in a home adjacent to the man's property.

"I've got four dogs in there going [crazy]," he said. "...At first, I thought it sounded like fireworks."

Shackelford and Woods went outside to investigate, they said.

"We saw the [man] laying out here behind the camper, laying in some tall grass," Shackelford said.

When emergency medical services arrived, they placed the man on a stretcher and gave him oxygen, but he seemed unresponsive, she said.

"When they rolled him over, it didn't look like he was moving," she said.

Both Woods and Shackelford said the man was quiet and would go out walking after dark, often returning with groceries from a nearby store.

Another neighbor said he heard four to five shots in the morning in quick succession but did not realize the shots involved township police.

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The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation was called to the scene and will handle the investigation, according to the release. By early afternoon, authorities had taped off the man's home and Dalton's house, although she said she still had access to her home.

"I can get in the house, but they asked me not to go in the back yard," she said.

Her back yard connects to the man's property.

The officers will be placed on mandatory administrative leave, which is customary in officer-involved shootings, the department said.

Springfield police said they will not be releasing additional information "at this time," but that further updates will be made as more information becomes available.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Springfield Township police fatally shoot man accused of firing at them