The Toledo Police Department declared that 24-year-old officer Brandon Stalker was captured and killed after a standoff situation at a house Monday afternoon.
Officer Stalker was murdered when SWAT teams forced an undercover defendant from the house he had been hiding in after hours of negotiations were ineffective, Toledo Police Chief George Kral said at a news conference Monday. The suspect began shooting after exiting the house, Kral said.
Stalker had been assigned to cover the perimeter and was not part of the SWAT team, Kral said. He leaves behind a fiancé and a young child. Stalker was hired in July of 2018.
“This really is a really dark and horrific day for the city,” Toledo Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz stated in a press conference Monday.
The mayor named Stalker that a”fantastic officer and a proud new daddy.” We will never forget his service and sacrifice,” Kapszukiewicz tweeted.
Kral said the incident began when the gang task force saw a suspect wanted for vandalizing a palace before Monday.
As officers approached the defendant, Kral said he brandished a firearm and went to the home. At that time, a perimeter has been set along with the SWAT team and negotiators were predicted in. After hours of negotiations were unsuccessful, Kral said the SWAT team pioneered gas inside the house.
The suspect then came out of the home with two firearms and began shooting, Kral said. Stalker was struck after.
The suspect was taken, however, his condition is unknown.
“This really is a very dark and horrific day for the town of Toledo and it comes as a time when the Toledo Police Department has had to survive too many dark and awful times in the previous six months,” Kapszukiewicz said Monday.
On July 4, 2020, Toledo police officer Anthony Dia died after being shot in the chest whilst responding to a 911 call of an intoxicated person in a Home Depot parking.