Ohio firefighter Demetrius Butler, 35, shoots dead fiancée and then kills himself in front of police after her terrified 11-year-old daughter calls 911
Firefighter Demetrius T’Juan Butler, 35, killed himself and fiancée in Akron, Ohio Thursday
Victim‘s daughter, 11, heard gunshots in basement and called 911 in a panic
Responding officers found 35-year-old woman, who has not been publicly identified, dead in the basement of the home with multiple gunshot wounds
Butler who had fled the scene was tracked down, standing in street, where he fatally shot himself as officers closed in
Butler was a firefighter and paramedic with the Twinsburg Fire Dept
The shooting victim’s daughter and seven-year-old son were in the home at the time
Firefighter Demetrius T’Juan Butler, [photo], was identified as the shooter in a suspected domestic murder-suicide early on Thursday in Akron, Ohio
Demetrius T’Juan Butler, 35, was identified as the man who died in the suspected murder-suicide early on Thursday in Akron, Ohio. Butler was a firefighter and paramedic with the Twinsburg Fire Department.
Police responded to a home on the 600 block of Brittain Road at about 2am, after an 11-year-old girl called 911 for help after hearing an argument between her mother and her mother’s fiance.
She told dispatchers that she heard gunshots and then found her mother unresponsive in the basement.
Responding officers found the caller’s 35-year-old mother, who has not been publicly identified, in the basement of the home with multiple gunshot wounds. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
The woman had two children at home at the time of the shooting, the 11-year-old daughter and a 7-year-old son. The children were placed in the custody of the Summit County Children’s Services before they were placed with their father, police said.
Butler had been a firefighter in Twinsburg since 2012. Police say he killed his fiancé before fleeing the scene and turning the gun on himself as cops closed in
Police are seen at the Virginia Avenue location where Butler was found after fleeing. He turned the gun on himself as police closed in on him
The caller and her seven-year-old son were in the home at the time of the shooting.
Police arrived and found that the woman’s fiance, identified as Butler, had fled the scene. Butler was tracked to a residential area about four miles away, on the 1400 block of Virginia Avenue.
As an officer approached, Butler ‘put the gun to his chest and shot himself,’ Akron police said in a statement.
Butler was taken to Summa Akron City Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 3:05 a.m
‘Butler ‘put the gun to his chest and shot himself,’ as cops approached. Photo shows what appears to be a handgun is seen on the residential street where the suspect killed himself
Investigator photographs what appears to be a handgun found at the scene of Demetrius Butler where shot himself on Thursday
The slain woman’s two children were placed in the custody of Summit County Children’s Services, and later in the day their father took custody of them.
Butler began working as a part-time firefighter and paramedic for Twinsburg in 2012, the department said in a statement to WEWS-TV.
He began working full-time for the department in April 2018, the department said.
‘He was a valued member of our team with years of experience brought from other area departments he has worked with and has helped advance our department through Fire and EMS instruction,’ the department said in a statement.
‘Demetrius has touched many lives throughout several communities in which he has served.’
Mayor Ted Yates administers the oath of office to Demetrius T’Juan Butler at Twinsburg Fire Department in April 2018, when he became a full-time firefighter
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