Uploaded January 2011 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
ENON, Ohio — A sheriff's deputy investigating a report of gunfire at a trailer park was shot dead Saturday, and the shooting suspect was killed after a furious standoff with police, authorities said. A police officer was wounded.
The slain deputy was married and was the mother of two children, Clark County Sheriff Gene Kelly said. He didn't release the names of the deputy or the suspect killed in the standoff in Enon Beach, about 50 miles west of Columbus.
The deputy was shot as she tried to photograph a footprint in the mobile-home park, Kelly said.
"Our deputy never had the opportunity to return fire or take cover," he said at a press conference.
Police officers were trying to retrieve the deputy's body when the suspect fired on them from inside a trailer, and a German Township officer was wounded in a large exchange of gunfire, Kelly said. There were "many, many, many" shots fired by the suspect and police, he said.
It appears that it was gunfire from Clark County deputies that killed the suspect, said Kelly, who has been sheriff for 24 years. He said he had hired the slain deputy and had known her since the police academy. He called her "just a good person, an outstanding deputy," and said she was the first officer he's lost.
"This," Kelly said, "is the worst day of my entire law enforcement career."
RIP Clark County Sheriff's Deputy Suzanne Hopper and heal quickly German Township Officer Jeremy Blum.
ENON, Ohio — A sheriff's deputy investigating a report of gunfire at a trailer park was shot dead Saturday, and the shooting suspect was killed after a furious standoff with police, authorities said. A police officer was wounded.
The slain deputy was married and was the mother of two children, Clark County Sheriff Gene Kelly said. He didn't release the names of the deputy or the suspect killed in the standoff in Enon Beach, about 50 miles west of Columbus.
The deputy was shot as she tried to photograph a footprint in the mobile-home park, Kelly said.
"Our deputy never had the opportunity to return fire or take cover," he said at a press conference.
Police officers were trying to retrieve the deputy's body when the suspect fired on them from inside a trailer, and a German Township officer was wounded in a large exchange of gunfire, Kelly said. There were "many, many, many" shots fired by the suspect and police, he said.
It appears that it was gunfire from Clark County deputies that killed the suspect, said Kelly, who has been sheriff for 24 years. He said he had hired the slain deputy and had known her since the police academy. He called her "just a good person, an outstanding deputy," and said she was the first officer he's lost.
"This," Kelly said, "is the worst day of my entire law enforcement career."
RIP Clark County Sheriff's Deputy Suzanne Hopper and heal quickly German Township Officer Jeremy Blum.
