Feds charge Greene County man accused of shooting Ohio wildlife officer
Apr. 16—A Greene County man accused of shooting an Ohio wildlife officer appeared Friday in federal court following his indictment for illegally possessing a gun.
Brian R. Liming, 44, of Caesarcreek Twp. southeast of Xenia, was taken into custody Thursday by agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives after he appeared for a pretrial hearing in Clinton County Common Pleas Court.
Liming is accused of shooting and injuring veteran wildlife officer Kevin Behr on Dec. 20, 2020, while he was investigating illegal deer hunting. Liming faces felony charges of assault and a weapons violation and misdemeanor charges for hunting without a permit and for hunting on private property without permission, Clinton County records show.
He was indicted April 14 by a federal grand jury for possessing a loaded 20-gauge shotgun. Liming previously was convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence, but it is a federal crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison for someone to have a gun or ammunition after such a conviction, according to a release issued Friday by Acting U.S. Attorney Vipal J. Patel of the Southern District of Ohio.
Liming is out on bond.
He told police he was in the woods hunting near Macedonia and Martinsville roads south of Wilmington when he fired a shot at a buck.
"Mr. Liming reports he heard someone screaming, so he ran and he found a man with a gunshot wound," according to an affidavit from Clinton County Sheriff's Sgt. Doug Eastes filed in Clinton County Municipal Court.
The gunshot victim was identified as Behr, a 25-year veteran of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Wildlife. He remained hospitalized at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center through March after undergoing numerous surgeries.
Two other men who were with Liming — Thomas J. Davis, 35, of Jefferson Twp. near Jamestown in Greene County, and Bryan S. Achtermann, 36, of Midland in Clinton County — face misdemeanor charges.
Actermann is pleading no contest to charges of hunting without a license and not having a deer permit; and Davis — who allegedly drove the day of the shooting — has an April 30 jury trial in Clinton County Municipal Court for unlawfully aiding an offender of prohibited activities, court records show.
