DAYTON – An hours-long hostage standoff that began with a truck hijacking near London Wednesday ended in a shootout four counties away that left both suspects dead, according to the Ohio State Highway Patrol and London police.
NOTE: This article has been updated from an earlier version to include the death of the second suspect.
The incident began with a seemingly routine traffic stop in London at approximately 1:00 a.m. Wednesday when a man and woman who had been pulled over by a London police officer fled north on U.S. route 42 to a truck stop near I-70 where the man pulled a handgun when an officer tried to arrest him, London police chief Glenn Nicol and highway patrol spokesman Lt. Nathan Dennis said in a joint release.
The couple hijacked a semi tractor with one person inside and drove away, leading troopers, London police and Madison County Sheriff’s Office deputies on a pursuit from Madison County to Dayton where authorities were able to stop the truck on an access road outside the Dayton International Airport, Dennis and Nicol said.
Montgomery County sheriff’s deputies began negotiating with the suspects just after 3:00 a.m. and, at 7:30 a.m., the patrol’s Special Response Team approached the truck and were fired upon.
Troopers fired back, striking both suspects, and removed the hostage from the truck, Dennis and Nicol said.
The suspects were taken to Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton where they both later died, according to Dennis and Nicol.
The truck driver who was taken hostage suffered only minor injuries and was treated at a hospital.
The names of the two suspects were not released.
The officer-involved shooting is under investigation by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation.
No other information was released.