Woman fatally shot by Knox County deputy in second deadly police shooting in three days
A 41-year-old woman was fatally shot by a Knox County deputy sheriff Monday night, the county's second fatal police shooting incident in less than a week.
Deputies responded to Zuck Road in Butler Township around 8:31 p.m. after receiving a call about a woman trying to force her way into a house, Sheriff David Shaffer said. Butler Township is in eastern Knox County, about 60 miles northeast of Columbus.
The woman had entered the house by the time deputies arrived and refused commands to come outside, according to Shaffer.
At one point, Shaffer said, the woman broke a window, pointed a shotgun in the direction of the officers and fired multiple times before a deputy "fired a single shot" in return, striking the woman.
The woman, who had not been identified by authorities as of , was taken to Knox Community Hospital in Mount Vernon, where she died.
The shooting will be investigated by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation. The arm of the Ohio Attorney General's office is also investigating another fatal police shooting from Saturday, during which Knox County deputies shot and killed two brothers following a nine-hour standoff.
Police have said Randy Wilhelm, 56, and Bradley Wilhelm, 53, fired guns at law enforcement vehicles and had planned to detonate a propane tank as a bomb rather than face arrest.
The standoff on Gilchrist Road near the village of Howard in Monroe Township, about 50 miles northeast of Columbus, began around 11:30 p.m. Friday after a bail bondsman called police to report that his vehicle had been shot multiple times while trying to apprehend Randy Wilhelm.
Wilhelm had been under indictment since 2020 for charges including intimidation, menacing by stalking, bribery, felonious assault and domestic violence. On Aug. 2, he failed to appear in court for his jury trial and a warrant was issued for his arrest.
Multiple agencies responded to the scene, including the State Highway Patrol.
Officers shot and killed the two brothers as they rode toward the officers in an all-terrain vehicle around 9:20 a.m. Saturday, according to the sheriff's office.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Knox County deputy fatally shoots woman in exchange of gunfire
