Ohio woman: I tried to hide boy, 11, from gunman

Associated Press

COPLEY, Ohio

An 11-year-old boy running from a gunman hid in a woman’s basement with her children until the gunman forced his way into the home and shot the boy dead, the woman said this week.

The gunman, Michael Hance, also killed six other people and injured his girlfriend before being killed by police earlier this month in a Copley Township neighborhood, outside Akron, authorities have said. The 11-year-old boy, the youngest victim, was identified as the girlfriend’s nephew, Scott Dieter.

The woman who tried to shelter Scott, Melonie Bagley, lived in the neighborhood and recounted what happened in interviews with the Akron Beacon Journal newspaper and WEWS-TV. She said she didn’t know Scott before he ran to her home yelling for help Aug. 7.

A man fleeing the gunman had just arrived, breathless and sweaty and clearly scared, talking about a shooting in the neighborhood. Then came Scott, with the gunman trailing him, Bagley told the Beacon Journal.