(CLEVELAND) — An Ohio police officer investigating a call of a disturbance at a home was fatally shot Saturday night in what authorities described as an “ambush” by an alleged gunman who was found dead Sunday.
The shooting unfolded just before 10 p.m. local time in a residential area of Euclid, Ohio, about 15 miles northeast of Cleveland, Capt. Mitchell Houser, a spokesperson for the Euclid Police Department, said in a statement.
Houser said officers were called to a residence to investigate a disturbance.
“While police were investigating, a gunman ambushed an officer, striking him with gunfire,” Houser said.
The mortally wounded officer was taken to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead, Houser said.
The slain officer was identified as Jacob Derbin, according to Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost.
In a press conference Sunday afternoon, officials noted that Derbin’s father is an active officer on the Euclid police force.
“Officer Derbin was proudly sworn in to the Euclid Police Department on July 24th, 2023,” read a release from the police. “During his brief time with the department, he served the residents and business owners of Euclid, as well as his fellow Officers with dedication, honor, and professionalism. His kind heart and enormous smile were infectious. The world was a better place with him in it and he will be desperately missed by all who knew him.”
Authorities began a search for the suspect, identified by police as 24-year-old Deshawn Anthony Vaughn, but said he was found dead by gunshot on Sunday afternoon in a home in Shaker Heights, Ohio.
Police did not specify if Vaughn was killed by police or if the gunshot was self-inflicted.
A motive for the shooting remains under investigation.
The shooting came just hours after three Atlanta police officers were shot while responding to a call Saturday evening, officials said. The officers were shot after being called to investigate a report of a man with a gun, Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum said during a news conference.
The unidentified officers encountered the suspect, who was allegedly armed with a handgun and knife when shots rang out, Schierbaum said.
On April 29, four members of a U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force were killed and four others were wounded in a shootout that erupted in Charlotte, North Carolina, as they attempted to serve active felony warrants on a suspect identified as 39-year-old Terry Clark Hughes Jr., who was killed in the gun battle, according to police.
At least 58 law enforcement officers have been killed in the line of duty so far this year, including 22 who died as a result of gunfire, according to the nonprofit Officer Down Memorial Page.
In 2023, 136 federal, state and local law enforcement officers died in the line of duty compared to 224 officers in 2022, a decrease of almost 40%.
— ABC News’ Darren Reynolds contributed to this report.
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