A 61-year-old instructor was shot and killed Sunday morning inside the Cuyahoga Falls Natatorium after a man entered the city-run facility and opened fire, according to the Cuyahoga Falls Police Department. The shooting happened at about 9:30 a.m. on Sunday, October 18, at the Natatorium at 2345 Fourth Street. Police said the man targeted a single victim, the woman who worked at the facility as an instructor, and then fled the building.
The woman was taken to Summa Health’s Akron campus, Summa Akron City Hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 9:51 a.m. The Summit County Medical Examiner’s Office is investigating her death as a homicide. Her name has not been released, and officials said it will be made public only after an autopsy is completed and her family has been notified.
Police identified the suspect as Craig Alan Sipe, 63, of Akron. Sipe later turned himself in to Cuyahoga Falls police, according to the department. He has been charged with one count of aggravated murder in connection with the shooting and is being held in the Summit County Jail.
Sipe is scheduled to be arraigned on Monday, October 19, in Stow Municipal Court. The charge against him is an accusation, and he is presumed innocent until proven guilty. No additional charges were announced in the information released by police on Sunday.
Investigators said the shooting is believed to be domestic-related, though police did not disclose the relationship between Sipe and the victim. Police said the man targeted the one victim, and the department said there is no ongoing threat to the public following the shooting and Sipe’s surrender.
The Natatorium closed for the rest of Sunday after the shooting and remains closed on Monday, October 19. The facility is a city-run recreation center, and the closure left the building shut to members and visitors while the investigation continued. The city extended its condolences to the victim’s family.
For the community that uses the Natatorium, the shooting turned a familiar public facility into the scene of a homicide investigation on what began as an ordinary Sunday morning. What happens next will play out in court, beginning with Sipe’s arraignment in Stow, and through the medical examiner’s work to complete the autopsy and formally identify the victim for her family and the public.
Photo: Jeffreyrstroup, CC BY-SA 4.0