Man shoots self after home standoff

        GREENHILLS — After barricading himself and his family inside their home most of the night, a 43-year-old man fatally shot himself Thursday morning.

        His wife and four children had escaped the Hamlin Avenue home less than an hour earlier. They told police that the man never threatened them, said Police Chief Donald Beck.

        Police responded to a 911 call about a suicidal man inside the home with his family at 1 a.m. The caller said there were guns inside the home.

        At 3:11 a.m., the Hamilton County SWAT team was called in. Negotiations began and the woman and the children, whose ages were not available, were released at 7:10 a.m. The man shot himself soon after, said Col. Richard Greer of the SWAT team.

Body was of man sought as witness

        A decomposing body found Tuesday near Winton Terrace has been identified as that of an Avondale man. Cincinnati police had been looking for him since his friend was killed last week.

        Kevin Redding, 22, had been missing since a shooting Aug. 28 in Over-the-Rhine left Kevin Johnson dead. Both men had been seen in Mr. Johnson's 1999 silver GMC Yukon, which was taken after the first killing but found two days later in Northside.

        Mr. Redding is the 45th homicide victim of the year in the city. That compares with 39 as of this time in 2001.

        Investigators said they did not know how Mr. Redding got from McMicken Avenue, where Mr. Johnson was killed, to Winton Ridge Lane, or where Mr. Redding was shot. Both Mr. Redding and Mr. Johnson had been arrested multiple times — on drug charges and for public gambling — around the scene of Mr. Johnson's killing, near McMicken Avenue and Mohawk Street.

Officer under probe loses police powers

        A 29-year-old Cincinnati police officer must stay on desk duty until the end of a criminal investigation into alleged sexual misconduct on duty.

        Officer Lonnie Grizzel, who joined the force in 1998, lost his police powers Wednesday. He had been on patrol

        until the investigation “proceeded to a point where the police chief felt the suspension of Officer Grizzel's powers was necessary,” City Manager Valerie Lemmie wrote in a memo to council members.

        Officer Grizzel's conduct was seen by a woman and reported to police supervisors. An internal investigation also is pending.

First interviews held for head of schools

        Board members of Cincinnati Public Schools on Thursday interviewed candidates for superintendent, but school district officials said they did not know who the candidates were or how many were interviewed.

        Proact Search Inc., a Milwaukee-based executive search firm, screened applicants.

        School board members said Wednesday they had no idea whom they would be interviewing during their private meetings at the Marriott Kingsgate Conference Hotel in Corryville Thursday and today. On Thursday, they spent much of the day meeting candidates.

        District officials asked hotel security to escort a reporter from the floor where interviews were held.

        A banquet reservation slip obtained by the Enquirer after a public records request shows that security was asked to keep all media representatives contained on the hotel's second level, while interviews took place on the first floor.

Deputy remains in critical condition

        Hamilton County Sheriff's Deputy Paul “P.J.” Reinert remained in critical condition Thursday as the search continued for the red Firebird that he was chasing when he crashed on Interstate 275 on Tuesday.

        Deputy Reinert is being treated at University Hospital for multiple injuries.

        He lost control of his cruiser and collided with a tractor-trailer in Colerain Township.

        Anyone with any information on the crash or the Firebird is asked to call the sheriff's office at 513-825-1500.

Homes contaminated by stolen mercury

        DAYTON, Ohio - A home contaminated by mercury taken from a garage in the neighborhood had six times the federal limit of mercury in it, authorities said Thursday.

        Several children took the mercury from a suburban Miami Township garage earlier this week and then mingled with other children. Four homes were contaminated.

        Steve Renninger, on-scene coordinator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, said two of the homes had mercury inside them and two had soil outside contaminated with mercury.

        One of the houses has been decontaminated and the family allowed to return home.

        Mr. Renninger said he did not know how much mercury was removed from the garage, but that several pounds were spilled on the garage floor. He said authorities removed about 300 chemicals in small bottles from the garage.

        Mr. Renninger said air monitoring shows there is no danger to the neighborhood. He said he hopes cleanup is completed by the weekend.

        Police said at least a dozen children may have been contaminated and the number of children tested for mercury probably will increase as the investigation continues.

        Two children were treated at Miami Valley Hospital and released.

        The one-car garage where the mercury was stored is attached to a house under renovation.

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