Police Standoff With A Father & His Son In Ohio (The John Lekan & John Jr Story) - Bill Cooper

(Standoff Ends in Death of Suspect and Young Son - According To 1 Source):

BRUNSWICK, Ohio (AP) _ A two-day police standoff ended Sunday when officers stormed a house and found a suspected gunman and his 9-year-old son dead, police said.

The bodies of John M. Lekan, 54, and his son John Jr. were found about 1 p.m. in a bathroom. Lekan shot his son in the head and then shot himself in the head, police Chief Patrick Beyer said.

Police had taken Lekan’s 49-year-old wife, Beverly, out of the house nearly three hours before her husband and son were found. Mrs. Lekan, who is bedridden and suffers from multiple sclerosis, was taken to a Cleveland hospital with minor injuries.

The standoff began Friday afternoon when police were met by gunfire when they went to the house to check on Mrs. Lekan. Visiting health care workers had called police to complain about guns in the house.

One officer was shot, and two more were wounded later when police attempted to storm the one-story frame house in this town just outside Cleveland. One officer was treated and released; the other two remained hospitalized Sunday.

Sgt. Nick Solar, the chief police negotiator, said he talked to Lekan three or four times Friday and early Saturday, the last time police spoke with him.

``He indicated to me he was born a free man and he intended to die a free man,″ Solar said. ``He also indicated to me that his home was his castle and nobody was going to take either he or anybody else out of his castle.″

Mrs. Lekan told The Plain Dealer over the phone Friday that her husband became enraged when the health care workers asked that he keep his guns out of sight.

She told the newspaper her husband kept three guns in the house for personal protection.

``He’s ready for attack if necessary,″ she said.

Police used an armored vehicle Saturday to knock out windows before tear gas was fired into the house, said Detective Sgt. John Stukbauer.