Three Kent police officers recognized for bravery; were shot protecting children

Kent police officers who were shot while protecting two children from a gunman last year were publicly recognized for their bravery at Wednesday's Kent City Council meeting.

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Police Chief Nicholas Shearer presented commendations to officers Matt Butcher, Kyle Auckland and Leonard Kunka, who responded to the call at a home on East Summit Street in January 2021. A babysitter, who was 14 at the time, was alone in the home with a young child, and called police to report someone breaking into the home.

Dante Darnell Dixon, 41, of Cleveland Heights, pleaded guilty in the incident last October, and was sentenced to 38 to 42 years in prison

"It's not uncommon for us to get a call like that, especially when you have younger people in the house, and there's just fear sometimes," Shearer said. "But if you ask these two, something felt different about this one."

Auckland, Kunka and another officer were the first to arrive. Kunka went to the back of the house and saw signs that the back door had been forced open, and he saw a suspect, later identified as Dixon, who ran deeper into the house.

"At that point, he had a decision to make," Shearer said. "The decision Officer Kunka made was one to put those people in that house before himself."

As he was chasing the suspect, Dixon turned and fired one round at him. Auckland, meanwhile, heard the shot and entered the house from the front, and also was shot.

The officers engaged in hand-to-hand combat to avoid injuries to the children in the house, and subdued the suspect. The suspect fired another round at Kunka during the struggle, and Kunka, who was shot in the hand, is not sure which bullet actually hit him, but told Shearer he had "a pretty good idea."

Auckland, Shearer said, was shot "almost point blank right in the chest" but was saved by his body armor. During the struggle, he said, Auckland didn't know whether the body armor stopped the bullet or not "so he's fighting with this guy this entire time, not knowing if there's a bullet in his chest or if his body armor stopped that round."

Butcher, the "senior officer," came in to secure the scene and took charge of the incident, which Shearer said was "instrumental."

"Their primary focus throughout all this has been everyone instead of themselves," Shearer said.

In addition to commendations for all three, Shearer presented service ribbons to Kunka and Auckland. One, a purple ribbon, was a "duty service ribbon" given to officers who are injured in the line of duty. The Meritorious Service Award, the highest honor the department gives, was awarded because the two risked their lives to save someone else.

Last month, Kunka and Auckland were recognized by the American Red Cross, which presented them and five others with a 2022 Acts of Courage award.

Reporter Diane Smith can be reached at dsmith@recordpub.com

This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: Kent police officers, shot while protecting kids, are honored