Suspect caught in Ohio apartment complex shooting; 2 injured

MASON, Ohio – A man accused in a shooting at an apartment complex that left a sheriff’s deputy and the suspect’s father wounded is facing preliminary charges that include attempted murder, authorities in southwest Ohio said Friday.

Mohammed Abdou Laghaoui, 19, was taken custody at about 4:30 a.m. after he returned to the complex in Deerfield Township, where the shooting took place, said Warren County Sheriff Larry Sims. The town is about 25 miles northeast of Cincinnati.

Laghaoui initially had fled the scene, leading to a seven-hour manhunt with helicopters and K-9 units.

Sims identified the injured officer as Deputy Katie Barnes, who had been on the job for seven-and-half years starting as a corrections officer.

Barnes was responding to a domestic situation at the apartment complex Thursday night when she was shot in the lower abdomen, Sims said at a news conference. She was treated and released from a hospital Friday morning.

Barnes is expected to recover, Sims said. The suspect’s father was shot in the hand. Sims did not know the latest on the man’s condition, but thought he may need surgery.

Sims said Laghaoui fired an assault rifle that has yet to be recovered. He’s being held at the Warren County Jail on preliminary charges of attempted murder, attempted aggravated murder and felonious assault. A court appearance was planned for Monday.

A shelter-in-place order was lifted in Deerfield Township, shortly after 5 a.m.

Sims described Laghaoui’s arrested at the apartment complex as uneventful. “There were no issues with him whatsoever,” he said.

Sims said investigators found six spent rounds from an AK-47 near where Barnes was shot. He said she returned fire four times with her revolver.

“We are confident she did everything appropriate,” he told reporters at the news conference in Lebanon.

Brian Freedman, a resident of the apartment complex, told The Cincinnati Enquirer that he arrived home to find the area cordoned off.

“I don’t know if I’ve ever seen so many police officers in one place,” Freedman said.

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This story has been corrected to show that the apartment complex was Deerfield Township, not Deerfield County.