Officers shot and killed a 41-year-old Bucyrus man who was “firing a weapon and threatening law enforcement.”
Paul A. Desmarais was barricaded inside a home on the 900 block of East Warren Street, Bucyrus Police Chief Jon Dorsey said May 11 during a press conference.
“After several hours of unsuccessful negotiations and several attempts to use less-than-lethal tactics, the suspect threatened that he had explosive devices and fired multiple shots at police officers,” Dorsey said. “Officers cleared the residence and explosive materials were located.”
Nobody else was injured. The chief said the incident is no longer a threat to the public.
‘Officers were being shot at’
The situation began as a domestic-dispute call about 10:21 p.m. May 10.
When officers arrived on scene, they saw Desmarais “wearing body armor and carrying a firearm.”
By 3:25 a.m., the police department used social media to warn Bucyrus residents of the “armed barricaded suspect situation.”
Officers made sure that the man’s wife and children were not in danger.
“He was in the house alone,” Dorsey said.
Police tried to use tear gas to subdue Desmarais, but that effort was unsuccessful.
“He had a gas mask on,” Dorsey said. “That’s when officers were being shot at … they were trying to use gas to get him to surrender.”
The identity of the officer who shot Desmarais, as well as their agency affiliation, will not be made public until after the investigation is complete, Crawford County Prosecutor Matt Crall said.
“It’s been confirmed that it was not one of our local agencies in Crawford County,” Crall said.
The prosecutor said police shot Desmarais during the “late morning” of May 11.
Police found explosives at the scene
Police recovered explosive ordnance from the scene, which the chief said would be detonated safely in a controlled environment.
Other explosive materials that the prosecutor called “ingredients” were still being collected through the afternoon.
“This is still under investigation,” Crall said. “The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation is still on scene.”
Authorities are not sure how long the investigation might take.
“These things often take quite some time to go through,” Crall said. “The entire investigation will be forwarded to the prosecutor’s office.”
Protocol for police shootings is for the case to be presented to a grand jury for review.
“We’re not saying the officer did anything wrong,” Crall said. “We’re doing what is necessary and proper to have a full and transparent investigation.”
The domestic dispute and the events surrounding the shooting will be investigated separately.
Assisting on the scene were the Crawford County Sheriff’s Office, Richland County Sheriff’s Office, Ashland County Sheriff’s Office, Mansfield Police Department, Lexington Police Department, Ontario Police Department, Ohio Highway Patrol, Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, Crawford County Coroner’s Office and Bucyrus Fire Department.
Contact Zach Tuggle at 419-564-3508. Follow him on X at @zachtuggle.
This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Police shoot 41-year-old Bucyrus man after hours-long standoff
Reporting by Zach Tuggle, Mansfield News Journal / Mansfield News Journal
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