Another female neighbor, who wanted to remain anonymous, was unloading groceries out of her car when she saw Dawn Shearer running out of her home. She never heard any shots.
“I was shocked,” the neighbor said. “I thought it would be the other way around. I knew he had some guns stolen, so I just assumed…”
She has lived on the street for 19 years and Monday night’s shooting was the first in the neighborhood.
The home the Shearers rented is owned by Kingsgate Properties Management LLC., a Hamilton company, according to the Butler County Auditor’s Office.
UPDATE @ 9:46 A.M. (Feb. 7):
Neighbors on Ellis Way in Middletown said they were shocked this morning to hear that a man died in a shooting last night, allegedly at the hands of his ex-wife.
Chaz Frazier, who lives next door to the Shearers, said he and his wife were at a Mexican restaurant last night eating dinner when their 12-year-old daughter called around 8:30 p.m. and said she had heard gun shots and police were outside their home.
Frazier, who has his CCW license, said he loaded his hand gun and rushed home. A few minutes later, he saw Dawn Shearer in the back of a Middletown police cruiser and paramedics loading her ex-husband into the ambulance.
He said he was surprised to hear Dawn Shearer allegedly shot her ex-husband, Tony Shearer, 45. He described Dawn Shearer as being very quiet and always smiling.
“At first we thought he shot her,” Frazier said this morning while sitting on his front porch. “When we found out he shot her, she’s so quiet. She wasn’t the rowdy type. I didn’t think that would happen in this type of neighborhood. It’s quiet over here.”
Frazier said the Shearers moved into the rental property next door about six months ago, but he had not seen them in three to four weeks.
He said Tony Shearer laid carpet for a living. Frazier said he was in their house a couple times helping them move items in, and looking at Tony Shearer’s gun collection.
UPDATE @ 9:26 a.m. (Feb. 7):
A woman claiming to be the ex-wife of a man fatally shot in Middletown said she shot him because they were arguing.
“We were just arguing over stuff,” Dawn Shearer told 911 dispatchers as officers responded to the shooting in the 3600 block of Ellis Way Monday night. “We were married 20 something years.”
Shearer was in tears as she told dispatchers what happened.
“I moved back in to work things out,” she said. “I think I shot him in the head.”
Shearer was arrested on the scene of the shooting and is facing a charge of murder, according to police.
The victim, Anthony “Tony” Shearer, 45, was transported to Miami Valley Hospital, where he died from his injuries, according to police.
UPDATE @ 8:05 a.m. (Feb. 7):
A man shot in his home Monday night by his ex-wife has died, according to Middletown police.
Anthony “Tony” Shearer, 45, of Ellis Way in Middletown, was allegedly shot in his head by his ex-wife. He was transported to the Atrium Medical Center and later flown to Miami Valley Hospital where he died of his injuries, police said this morning. No one else was at the residence when the shooting occurred.
Police executed a search warrant at the residence and recovered a handgun and other evidence, they said.
Dawn Rachel Shearer, 46, went into custody without incident, police said. The two appeared to be involved in a domestic dispute prior to the shooting and police are working to determine the marriage status of the two, the release said.
She was charged with murder and booked into the Middletown City Jail. She will appear Wednesday in Middletown Municipal Court.
Montgomery County Coroner’s office will be conducting an autopsy.
UPDATED @ 7:45 a.m.:
Middletown police were called to the residence in the 3600 block of Ellis Way at least twice last year, according to police records.
On Dec. 23, there was a neighbor disturbance, but no charges were filed after police told them to separate themselves.
Several guns, a Harley-Davidson jacket and large amounts of change were stolen from the residence on Dec. 5, according to reports.
ORIGINAL REPORT:
A woman called Middletown police tonight and said she had shot her husband in the head, police told this news agency.
The woman is in custody and her husband is in “very critical condition” after he was flown to Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton, said Lt. Jim Cunningham.
Cunningham said police at 8:30 p.m. went to the residence in the 3600 block of Ellis Way after a woman called 9-1-1 and told dispatchers she had shot her husband. Cunningham said the man was shot at least once in the couple’s living room. He said officers are still at the scene.
This story will be updated as information becomes available.
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