‘I heard a couple of pops;’ Resident reacts to shooting involving off-duty officer in neighborhood

KETTERING — A possible kidnapping, an armed robbery, and an officer-involved shooting in Montgomery County may all be connected.

>>PHOTOS: Police responding to Kettering neighborhood after armed robbery suspect ‘injured’

Police say this all began in Riverside and ended up in a Kettering neighborhood near Tangent Drive.

News Center 7′s Malik Patterson spoke with a resident from the Kettering neighborhood, who all say they are shocked by what happened.

They say this is extremely unusual for this neighborhood, so much so that one resident who has lived here for 25 years wanted to remain anonymous for their safety.

“I heard a couple of pops I thought it was somebody at my front door. I went to the front door and all I could see was 6 or 8 cop cars at the front door with their lights going,” the resident said.

She said she was waiting for her friend to come by this afternoon when she heard gunshots.

She quickly locked her door, but something else caught her attention.

“I went around to the back and the policeman was going across my backyard with their guns drawn about 6 of them,” she said.

Dispatchers said an armed robbery suspect was injured in the Kettering neighborhood.

This incident started around 2 p.m. in Riverside when police got a call about a possible kidnapping.

“We don’t have all of our ends tied up so it’s just preliminary information but we believe the kidnapped person we believe to have found them over in Kettering,” Riverside Police Major Angela Jackson said.

>>INITAL REPORT: Shooting involving off-duty officer under investigation after aggravated robbery in Kettering

Riverside police then responded to a shooting at the La Tapatia Hispanic Market.

“No one was hurt here, no one was shot, they shot at like a freezer and at fruits,” Jackson said.

Minutes later, Kettering Police responded to a call at the Meijer on Wilmington Pike, which is not far from the neighborhood near Tangent Drive.

“Officers were sent to Meijer on an aggravated robbery. As a result of that call, we had officers involved in an off-duty shooting. That is all we have at this time, and we will have more to follow up tomorrow,” Kettering Police Lieutenant Craig Moore said.

Moore said the Tactical Crime Suppression Unit will be doing a full investigation on the shootings in both Riverside and Kettering.

The Kettering neighborhood resident said she rarely sees police in the area, so it was surprising to see them with their firearms drawn.

“I see a police car come down the street once or twice a week just kind of looking around but that’s it. Keeping an eye on us, I guess, which is wonderful,” she said.

News Center 7 is working to learn who the suspect is and what charges they are facing.

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