3 Lorain officers shot

LORAIN — Three Lorain police officers are injured and a suspect is dead after a shooting which authorities said began with an ambush of the officers. The shooting occurred just after 1 p.m. on River Bend Drive, south of Colorado Avenue. Acting Lorain Police Chief Michael Failing said two officers, Phillip Wagner and Peter Gale, had purchased a pizza for lunch and pulled down River Bend Drive to eat lunch. They were parked side by side. The suspect's car was parked at the dead end and he ambushed them, with Wagner suffering multiple gunshot wounds and Gale being shot in the hand. A third officer, Brent Payne, came to help and was shot multiple times. Wagner and Payne were flown to MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland, where they are undergoing treatment. Elyria Police Chief James Welsh earlier said the suspect was a 28-year-old Lorain man, who opened fire on the officers with a "high powered rifle." The suspect was killed, he said. "I can not confirm if the suspect took his own life, at this point, or if it was the return fire from law enforcement," Welsh said. "This was an ambush situation. Again, this is a difficult day for the Lorain Police Department and the law enforcement community." More than a dozen law enforcement agencies responded to the scene of the shooting, including multiple SWAT teams, as officers searched the woods surrounding the shooting with officers, a drone and a helicopter form the State Highway Patrol. Welsh said that the area was extensively searched to ensure that there were not any other involved suspects, but that it is now believed that the suspect acted alone. "I can confirm he was a lone gunman," Welsh said. Elyria police will lead the investigation of the officer-involved shooting, with assistance from the Lorain County Sheriff's Office, state Bureau of Criminal Investigation and other state, local and federal agencies, Welsh said. Most of the responding departments from Lorain County and beyond had cleared the scene by 5 p.m. Read updates on this story and more at chroniclet.com.