PHILLIPSBURG, OHIO — An off-duty Trotwood police officer was shot twice Sunday at his home, yet was able to run about a block to seek help at a fire station.
“I heard screaming, then I saw him running down the street kind of stumbling, holding his arm,” said 16-year-old James Morris. “He was sprinting as fast as he could run with an injured arm. It scared me pretty bad.”
Neighbors identified the victim as Troy Dexter, 34. A Miami Valley Hospital spokeswoman said Dexter was in fair condition.
Montgomery County Sheriff’s Sgt. Dave Hale said the victim and his wife were alone in their South State Street home at the time of the 3:30 p.m. shooting. Hale said the wife was in custody for questioning.
Hale said the victim was shot in the upper arm and in the abdomen.
Deputies said they had no information on what might have triggered the shooting.
Morris said he is friends with one of the couple’s teenage sons.
“She was always nice to everybody,” he said of the officer’s wife. “I never even saw her get mad.”
Morris said he was walking down State Street to visit a friend when he heard what he thought was a firecracker. A second later, he heard screams and saw his friend’s father running toward the fire station, which is about 100 yards from the Dexter house.
Another Trotwood police officer was shot multiple times and killed in a domestic incident earlier this year. Cedric Ballenger, 37, was shot in the Dayton home he shared with his ex-wife and their children.
Nicole Ballenger, 33, said that Cedric Ballenger had raped her. She has been charged with murder.
