MEDINA, Ohio (WJW) – A dispatcher is speaking out about a frantic search for a young girl abducted in southeast Ohio that ended in a confrontation that left her father dead.
“When a 911 call comes into our center, a siren goes off, so all calls sound the same. When I answered it, it was Charles Alexander,” said Scott Simonton, a dispatcher with the Medina County Sheriff’s Office.
Simonton had just started the night shift Monday when the Ohio Amber Alert suspect called 911.
“I was just trying to get him calm down a little bit, think of his daughter and make her at ease a little bit. It was emotional but it was needed to try and calm him down a little bit,” said Simonton.
A short time later, Alexander was shot and killed by an Ohio State Highway Patrol trooper after deputies say he abducted his 7-year-old daughter from Empire, Jefferson County.
Alexander’s actions triggered an intense search that expanded quickly across Ohio.
Troopers eventually spotted him on Interstate 71 in Medina. That’s when he called into the Medina County Sheriff’s Office communications center.
“Knowing he was armed, the extra caution was there to try and do anything we can to prolong the situation,” said Simonton.
Police say Alexander finally stopped in a restaurant parking lot on State Route 18 in Medina Township.
He hung up with the sheriff’s office and then called Medina police and Brunswick police.
A dispatcher with Brunswick police tried to stall before he decided to act.
Authorities did their best to negotiate with Alexander, but he continued to make threats. The stand-off led to a police-involved shooting.
Law enforcement confirmed the little girl was unharmed and has since been returned to her family.
“I’m glad the little girl is safe, that was my number one concern. I feel bad for all families involved. Something like this little girl is top of my list,” said Simonton.
