Ohio police officer shot and killed following hourslong standoff

The Toledo Police Department announced that 24-year-old officer Brandon Stalker was shot and killed after a standoff situation at a home Monday afternoon.

Stalker was killed when SWAT teams forced an unnamed suspect out of the home he had been hiding in after hours of negotiations were unsuccessful, Toledo Police Chief George Kral said at a news conference Monday. The suspect started firing after exiting the home, Kral said.

Stalker had been assigned to cover the perimeter and was not part of the SWAT team, Kral said. He leaves behind a fiancee and a young child. Stalker was hired in July 2018.

"This is a very dark and horrific day for the city," Toledo Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz said at a press conference Monday.

The mayor called Stalker a "fantastic officer and a proud new dad." "His loss will be felt forever. We will never forget his service and sacrifice," Kapszukiewicz tweeted.

Kral said the incident began when the gang task force saw a suspect wanted for vandalizing a cathedral earlier Monday.

As officers approached the suspect, Kral said he brandished a firearm and went into the home. At that time, a perimeter was set and the SWAT team and negotiators were called in. After hours of negotiations were unsuccessful, Kral said the SWAT team initiated gas inside the home.

The suspect then came out of the house with two firearms and started shooting, Kral said. Stalker was struck once.

The suspect was shot, but his condition is unknown.

"This is a very dark and horrific day for the city of Toledo and it comes as a time when the Toledo Police Department has had to endure too many dark and terrible days in the last six months," Kapszukiewicz said Monday.

On July 4, 2020, Toledo police officer Anthony Dia died after being shot in the chest while responding to a 911 call of an intoxicated person in a Home Depot parking lot.