SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — Authorities said a Clark County Sheriff’s deputy died after a standoff at a mobile home park east of Springfield Sunday morning.
Police confirmed Matthew Yates, a 15-year veteran of the sheriff’s department, died after being flown to Miami Valley Hospital for injuries.
During a press conference Sunday, Sheriff Deborah Burchett said they received a call before 11 a.m. Sunday about an unknown female breaking into a residence at Harmony Estates Mobile Home Park in the 1100 block of Ashwood Drive, and fired up to six shots.
Burchett said when they arrived at the scene, deputies, including Yates, went to check the residence and were shot at. Yates was hit, and Burchett said they called in tactical teams to rescue him, but they couldn’t for hours due to a standoff. Once they were able to get Yates out of of the residence, the mobile home caught fire and was destroyed, but the department didn’t release details as to how it caught fire.
“Please keep the Yates family in your thoughts and prayers, and please keep my sheriff’s office in your thoughts and prayers,” Burchett said.
Officials sent Yates to the hospital around 2:30 p.m., where he succumbed to his injuries. Nearly an hour before Yates got to the hospital, another deputy left the scene after inuring his leg. Officials said he wasn’t shot, but was trying to avoid gunfire from the mobile home.
The sheriff’s office hasn’t released additional details. The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation is handling the case. Multiple law enforcement agencies assisted during the incident, including Springfield police, Dayton SWAT, the Dayton bomb squad, other county police departments and the Ohio State Highway Patrol’s special unit, according to the sheriff’s office.
