Murder charge filed against suspect at center of standoff

& lt;a href="http://blogs.vindy.com/news/2007/02/23/yesterdays-911-call-released-to-vindycom/" target=blank_window & gt;The Youngstown 911 call center released this recording of the initial call about the shooting on Randolph Street in Youngstown Thursday. & lt;/a & gt;
Inside the house, police found a man who had been shot to death.
By PATRICIA MEADE
VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- "I trust you. I'll come out."
With those words to a police negotiator who promised no one would hurt him, David Klamer Jr. emerged from his two-story brick house at 376 Randolph St. around 12:30 p.m. Thursday, ending a one-hour standoff with police.
There was blood all over Klamer's white shirt. Klamer has been charged with aggravated murder, in the shooting death of Richard Helms of Youngstown, whose body was found inside Klamer's house, police said Thursday night. It was the city's fifth homicide of 2007.
Police are still sorting out details of the episode that started with a 911 call and ended when Patrolman Dave Wilson talked Klamer out of a "suicide-by-cop" threat.
Klamer, 47, was taken to St. Elizabeth Health Center to be treated for a scratch on his right hand and a possible drug overdose. According to police reports, Klamer resisted having his stomach pumped and told St. Elizabeth staff, "Let me die, I killed a man today." Klamer was in police custody Thursday night, but it was not clear where he was being held.
The drama began around 11 a.m. Thursday when police and an ambulance were sent to the Randolph Street house. The small West Side neighborhood that had a bird's-eye view of once-thriving steel mills quickly filled with up to 25 police vehicles and more than 30 officers.
"The call went out that a man with a gun in his mouth was going to kill himself and that there was a victim in the house," said Wilson, a hostage negotiator with 15 years' experience.
"I was the first [negotiator] there. He was distraught."
Klamer's son, David Klamer III, told police he was upstairs when he heard a loud commotion that frightened him so badly he fled the house. Klamer III said he then briefly returned to the home where he saw Helms lying bleeding on the kitchen floor. Police said Klamer III then went to his mother's workplace where he called police.
Link between suspect, victim
Capt. Kenneth Centorame, chief of detectives, said there were no signs of forced entry and detectives would sort out the relationship, if any, between the homeowner and the dead man.
"[Klamer] was saying he was robbed and he was threatening to shoot himself," Wilson said. "He was talking 'suicide by cop.'"
Wilson, who spoke twice to Klamer by phone, said the distraught man talked about having head injuries. At one point, Klamer wanted 22 minutes off the phone to pray, the negotiator said.
That's when Wilson figured the man would kill himself. The officer notified the Tactical Response Team, in case a forced entry was needed.
The alert sent the big, black, formidable assault/rescue truck -- nicknamed The Bear -- into position in front of Klamer's house. Youngstown Patrolman Michael Cox, a member of the FBI/Mahoning Valley Violent Crimes Task Force, stood atop the vehicle and aimed his rifle at the house to provide cover for his colleagues.
"Dave apologized for not telling me at first about the guy in the house, and I told him no one would hurt him if he came out," Wilson said of Klamer's state of mind. "He said 'I trust you. I'll come out.'"
Centorame credited Wilson's expertise for a safe ending to a tense situation.
At 12:42 p.m., police called a Code 6, meaning "situation under control." Detective Sgts. Daryl Martin and Gerard Slattery arrived, as did Tom Pappas, a Mahoning County coroner's investigator.
What neighbor said
Don Johnson, who has lived across the street from Klamer for about three years, was home Thursday during the day but didn't hear the gunfire. He described his neighbor as a loner.
"We talked now and then, sometimes sit on the porch," Johnson said, leaning on his porch gate as blustery winds swirled falling snow.
"We went to Petro [truck stop] one time, and after an hour he wanted to leave -- he doesn't like people."
Johnson, 58, said he saw boxes of collectible football and baseball cards inside Klamer's house. "I've seen different guys go in the house -- he sold the cards, I think."
As Johnson talked, the barks of his little dog Sammy subsided.
"He has one dog, Buster, a little pug," Johnson said, concerned about the animal's welfare. "I hope his son comes home."
Johnson said Klamer's son, also named David, lives at the Randolph house, too.
meade@vindy.com