The Latest: Mourners pay respects to slain Ohio police chief

NEWARK, Ohio – The Latest on a deadly shooting last week at an Ohio nursing home (all times local):

4:10 p.m.

Hundreds of police officers and community members have come together at a funeral for an Ohio police chief killed in a shooting at a nursing home last week.

Kirkersville Police Chief Steven Eric DiSario was laid to rest Saturday near Columbus.

The 38-year-old had only been on the job about three weeks when he died from a single shotgun wound while investigating a report of a man with a gun.

The gunman’s former girlfriend and a co-worker also were killed before the man killed himself on May 12 in Kirkersville, about 25 miles (39 kilometres) east of Columbus.

Authorities say Thomas Hartless had been in jail after pleading guilty in a domestic violence case but he was released early in April, a month before the shooting.

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10:15 a.m.

A judge in Ohio says he will be haunted forever by his decision to grant early release to a domestic violence suspect who authorities say killed his ex-girlfriend, her co-worker and a police chief.

Licking County Municipal Judge Michael Higgins said Friday he will go to his grave regretting he didn’t know who Thomas Hartless was when he signed off on his release.

Hartless was freed in April and then killed himself last week after the fatal shootings at a nursing home in Kirkersville, about 25 miles (39 kilometres) east of Columbus.

A review of what happened found a lack of checks and balances in the court’s early-release process.

Hartless wasn’t supposed to have weapons, but a probation officer never checked his home, where authorities later found over 60 guns.