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Ohio Nursing Home Shooting Update: Slain Kirkersville Police Officer Identified As Chief Steven Disario

By Tara Dodrill
Published on: 03:09 PST, May 12, 2017

Ohio nursing home shooting update: The Kirkersville police officer killed at the Pine Kirk Care Center in Licking County has been identified as Kirkersville Police Chief Steven Eric Disario. Two employees of the Ohio nursing home have now also died as a result of gunshot wounds. The still unidentified shooter is deceased as well.

Kirkersville Police Chief Steven Eric Disario was a Licking County resident. He and his wife have six children and were expecting their seventh at the time of his murder, News 9 reports. Local Sheriff Randy Thorp said a 911 call alerted law enforcement a man with a gun had been spotted in the street near the Kirkersville nursing home. Chief Steven Disario went to the scene to investigate the call.

A Kirkersville police officer was shot and killed during an active shooting at the Pine Kirk Care Center nursing home in Licking County, Ohio. Two other people were injured during the shooting, according to breaking news reports. Kirkersville is located about 25 miles east of Columbus.

The Ohio nursing home shooter has been “neutralized,” according to WLWT News. The as-yet unidentified shooter entered the Pine Kirk Care Center early Friday morning. The Kirkersville nursing home provides 24-hour rehabilitation services and skilled nursing care, the New York Daily News reports.

The Licking County nursing home shooter fired at the Kirkersville police officer who responded to the 911 call about the evolving incident and two other people before turning the gun on himself, WHIO TV reports.

“Shocked & pained by the horrific shooting in Kirkersville, ask for prayers for those injured. Grateful for law enforcement’s quick response,” Ohio Governor John Kasich tweeted earlier today.

Neither the condition nor the identities of the two injured and hospitalized victims from the Ohio nursing home shooting have been released by Licking County law enforcement officials.

“There is no threat to the public,” Ohio State Highway Patrol Lt. Robert Sellers told the Newark Advocate. “The situation has concluded.”

Lt. Sellers initially reported the Kirkersville police officer had suffered a gunshot wound but could not share an update on his condition.

Several public buildings in Licking County were placed on lockdown after being alerted to the active shooter situation at the Ohio nursing home. Kirkersville Elementary School, which is located near the Pine Kirk Care Center, was locked down, and students who were still on the way to school on buses were diverted to nearby Watkins Middle School.

Southwest Licking Local Schools Communications Director Ben Richards said the Kirkersville Elementary School students would remain at the middle school until given the all-clear to return to their own building.

“No one is going in, no one is coming out,” the Licking County school official said when reassuring parents their children were safe inside another building in the district.

Richards added that parents could pick up their children at Watkins Middle School but noted they were not required to do so.

The Ohio State Highway Patrol announced U.S. 40, which runs around the Pine Kirk Care Center area in Kirkersville, will remain closed for the rest of the day.

Check back with the Inquisitr for more details about the Ohio nursing home shooting as updated information about the tragic death of the Kirkersville police officer and the two hospitalized victims becomes available.

[Featured Image by Prath/Shutterstock]

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