A woman who was shot at a residence in Atwater Township on Tuesday morning has died, the Portage County Sheriff’s Office reported Tuesday afternoon. The shooting was reported during the morning of October 20 in the township in southern Portage County, and word that the woman had died came from the sheriff’s office later the same day, after a search for the man suspected in the shooting had already ended with an arrest.
According to the sheriff’s office, the suspect fled the scene on State Route 183 after the shooting. Deputies took the suspect into custody around 10 a.m., the sheriff’s office reported. The Record-Courier, reporting earlier in the day on the sheriff’s account, said a male suspect in the shooting of a female at an Atwater Township home had been taken into custody, and WNIR reported Tuesday afternoon that the sheriff’s office had taken the suspect into custody after he fled on State Route 183 around 10 a.m.
While the search for the suspect was underway, two area school districts took precautionary safety measures. Waterloo Local Schools and Southeast Local Schools were both placed on a soft lockdown during the search, the sheriff’s office said. A soft lockdown keeps students and staff inside secured buildings while classes and activities continue in a restricted way, and districts in the area used the measure while deputies worked to locate the suspect nearby.
Those lockdowns did not last beyond the arrest. The Record-Courier reported that the lockdown of area schools was lifted after the suspect was taken into custody, and WNIR likewise reported that both Waterloo and Southeast schools had been on soft lockdown only while the search took place, before the suspect was taken into custody.
Authorities have released only limited information so far. The sheriff’s office has not released the names of the woman or the suspect, has not described the woman’s injuries beyond confirming that she was shot and later died, and has not said what may have led up to the gunfire at the residence. Deputies also have not publicly identified the exact location in Atwater Township beyond describing it as a residence.
The investigation is ongoing, the sheriff’s office said. Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call the Portage County Sheriff’s Office at 330-296-5100. NewsForce247 will update this story as the sheriff’s office releases additional confirmed details, including the identities of those involved and any charges filed in the case.
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