This is a horrible story. A police officer in Danville, Ohio was executed last night by a lowlife thug. The man’s own girlfriend called 9/11 to say he was armed and had just left to kill a police officer but apparently they couldn’t get the word out quick enough to save Officer Thomas Cottrell:
NBC NEWS – A police officer was found dead in Ohio with his gun and cruiser missing, authorities said early Monday.
The Ohio State Highway Patrol had deployed extra units and aviation resources after the Danville officer was reported missing and possibly wounded late Sunday.
Officer Thomas Cottrell was found dead without his service weapon or cruiser just before midnight, according to the Knox County Sheriff’s department.
It said dispatchers had received a tip-off from a female caller that Danville cops “were in danger” because her ex-boyfriend Herschel Jones had “left with weapons and was looking to kill an officer.”
Dispatchers tried to reach the officer but were unsuccessful, the sheriff’s office added. Sheriff’s deputies searched the village of Danville and found Cottrell’s body behind a municipal building 27 minutes after the initial call.
The officer had been shot dead, according to NBC station WCMH.
Jones was taken into custody following a “foot chase” at around 1:36 a.m. after he was seen “running from a residence,” the sheriff’s office said.
Here are a few tweets:
Danville, Ohio Officer Thomas Cottrell was discovered with a fatal gunshot wound. https://t.co/8Q3KHRtrPL pic.twitter.com/S8TwfCkeMb
— 53 Hours©™ (@53Hours) January 18, 2016
Prayers for Ohio's first fallen officer for 2016 a Danville PD Officer was shot/killed this evening in Knox County. pic.twitter.com/s0gW5nKYqS
— Chief Jim Gilbert (@CHIEFGILBERT1) January 18, 2016