Tiffin police fatally shoot man barricaded in home

5/30/2009

TIFFIN Police shot and killed a man at his home early Saturday after he pointed a revolver at officers, authorities said.

Benjamin A. Grimes, 30, of 194 East Perry St., was pronounced dead at Mercy Hospital of Tiffin shortly after the 3:22 a.m. shooting.

Officers were called to the home at 1:53 a.m. on a report of a man breaking into the residence. When they arrived, Mr. Grimes confronted them and barricaded himself inside the home with at least two weapons, police said.

Two of the responding officers were trained crisis intervention counselors and established communication with Mr. Grimes through a rear window.

They talked to him for almost 90 minutes in an effort to persuade him to surrender, authorities said, but his mental state deteriorated, and a decision was made to end the standoff.

Members of the police department s special response team broke through a barricaded side door and encountered Mr. Grimes pointing the revolver at them. The officers opened fire, striking him several times.

Police said earlier in the evening Mr. Grimes had been transported to Mercy Hospital for mental evaluation after threatening to harm himself. He was released to the custody of a friend at 1:24 a.m.

The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation will investigate the shooting. The officer who fired the fatal shot has been placed on administrative leave pending the completion of the probe.