Both law enforcement officers who were shot survived.
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Thursday marked the fourth anniversary of the shooting of Hamilton Police Officer Chad Stafford on a freezing Saturday morning.
Stafford responded just after 7 a.m. on Feb. 15, 2014, to a report of an armed man firing shots into the air in a quiet neighborhood. Stafford spotted the suspect, identified as Brandon Keeler, walking along the 1100 block of Sipple Avenue.
When Stafford got out of his car, Keeler shot at him. Stafford ducked behind a car, but the bullet grazed his head. Wounded, the firearms instructor and 16-year veteran of the Hamilton Police Department returned fire, striking Keeler dead with multiple gunshots.
Keeler, who left notes indicating he wanted to die at the hands of police, was shooting a civilian version of an AK-47 rifle and had plenty of ammunition.
Stafford fully recovered and returned to work on March 20, 2014. He is still patrolling the streets of the city.
In May 2014, Stafford was presented with a Medal of Valor, a supreme degree of recognition for selfless bravery during extreme conditions.
After that presentation, Stafford told this news outlet that it was wonderful to be back to work.
On that morning, Stafford said he was not alarmed by a shots fired call and really not too alarmed when he got out of his vehicle to face the armed man.
“It was another Saturday morning. I thought, I am going to tell him to put down the gun and he is going to, but he didn’t,” Stafford said.
He said he remembers returning fire and “I watched him lay down in the snow. I continued to cover him until the other officers arrived.”
Hamilton Public Safety Director Scott Scrimizzi, who was police chief in February 2014, said officer shootings do bring back that horrible call he received on Feb. 15, 2014.
“I was convinced that Chad was killed,” Scrimizzi said. He was driving his daughter to swim practice that day when he got a call from dispatch that Stafford had been shot in the head. “I will never forget 7:04, that is when my phone went off.”
“I pulled up convinced that he was dead,” Scrimizzi said. “They had the tape up … I see that we have a crime scene set up and there is a body there and I am convinced it is Chad.”
A supervisor, who didn’t recognize the chief at first, soon told him Stafford was a alive and being treated.
“That is when we transition to immediately, we have got to get to his family,” Scrimizzi said. He wanted to make sure Stafford’s wife and two children did not find out about his shooting from the media or social media.
Scrimizzi added Stafford “clearly had an angel sitting on his shoulder that day.”
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On March 20, 2005, Butler County Sheriff’s Deputy Brandon Roberts was shot just outside the Village of Seven Mile while trying to apprehend to suspects on a crime spree.
Two Hamilton men, Mark Kendrick Jr., and Robert Morris, first attempted to rob a bank in College Corner, Ind., with sawed-off shotguns — they found the bank doors closed — before driving to Camden and robbing a BP station.
Camden Police Chief Mike Croucher began following the two men in his private vehicle. A short time after Croucher began his chase, the two suspects pulled into the Lazy Dog drive-through on Ohio 127 in Milford Township and attempted to disfigure their license plate.
Roberts then approached the suspect vehicle and stuck his weapon inside the front window. One of the men rose up from the car’s back seat and shot Roberts. The bullet went just under his vest and into his stomach.
The two men then stole the police cruiser and the officer’s gun and traveled south on Eaton Road. Later, with deputies in pursuit, they crashed the cruiser into a culvert about four miles from the Lazy Dog.
Kendrick and Morris fled into a creek area, where one suspect was found, hurt, a short time later. He was transported to an area hospital and the second suspect taken into custody by deputies.
“Just talking about it sends chills down my spine,” said Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones.
He said he was in his office in Hamilton and responded with lights and sirens.
“Seems like it took forever to get there,” Jones said. “They were loading him on CareFlight when I got there. We really didn’t know if he would live.”
Roberts said he thought he was dying, Jones said.
“They left him for dead in the dirt, took his gun and told him they would shoot him if he moved,” the sheriff said.
Roberts did recover and returned to the department. he later retired.
“He has another career and is doing well,” Jones said. “We were very fortunate that day.”
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