Sheriff: Standoff suspect used child hostage as 'human shield'

LIBERTY TOWNSHIP - A gunman who reportedly held a small boy hostage in standoff that spanned more than 30 hours used the small child as a "human shield," Butler County's sheriff revealed Sunday.

"He wouldn't allow that 10-year-old to leave his sight," Richard Jones said in a news conference, flanked by police and fire officials whose agencies. assisted in the joint operation.

"We felt he wanted us to shoot him. We could hear the child inside. He was crying, he wanted to get out."

The suspect, Donald Tobias Gazaway, 31, was taken into custody as the SWAT standoff finally ended about 6:30 a.m. at an apartment complex off Hamilton-Mason Road.

The boy seemed OK, the sheriff said. First responders gave him a doughnut and draped a fire coat over his shoulders to warm him up.

He was taken to a hospital with his mother for an evaluation.

'I'm just happy that this turned out all right and he's going to be OK," the boy's mother told reporters at the scene, asking for anonymity.

"Everything gets back to not normal, but I can have peace of mind."

Gazaway was booked into the county jail charges of kidnapping, felonious assault and inducing panic.

He has been on parole following his release from a state prison in July, state records show. His arrest is a violation of that parole. In this case, given the seriousness of the charges, Gazaway is all but guaranteed to go back to prison.

He served more than four years for a felonious assault conviction with a gun specification in Hamilton County.

Back in 2013, Gazaway was accused of attempting to harm five people by firing several shots during an argument at a party of 30 or more people at U.S. 50 and Cooper Avenue in Cleves, an affidavit states.

He was armed again when he arrived at the boy's mother's apartment about 11:30 p.m. Friday, Jones said.

But Gazaway didn't show his weapon right away, not until an argument erupted, according to the sheriff.

He asked the boy's mother for money, and she refused, Jones said.

Out came the gun, officials said; the mother and her friend, Rodderick Dontane Trammel, ran out, leaving the boy alone in the apartment with the gunman.

Trammel was arrested shortly after the standoff began. He was booked into the county jail by 9:30 a.m. on charges of misconduct at an emergency and disorderly conduct.

Meanwhile, negotiators tried to communicate with the gunman through a megaphone as they began the process of trying to coax him out.

He responded by firing 20 to 30 gunshots at them, officials reported. No one was hurt.

Bullets struck an armored SWAT vehicle and possibly a SWAT robot, according to the sheriff.

A few hours later, the sheriff said he fired two more shots at them, right before 1 p.m.

Authorities believed the man had more ammunition, but they did not return fire.

They didn't want to do anything to possibly agitate him and put the child at even greater risk, Jones said.

They kept trying to communicate with the gunman, tossing him cellphones he mostly ignored.

They delivered McDonald's meals to him and the boy and gave them water to drink.

And, they listened as the boy cried and begged to be released, asked his captor why he was doing this to him.

The gunman refused to let him go, not even to allow the child to use the bathroom, officials said.

Night fell. Bitter cold set in, temperatures plunging into the single digits.

"It's not good, we are in a bad situation right now. We are just going to try to wait it out and see if something changes," Jones told reporters at the scene.

The SWAT team couldn't use tactics such as flash bangs or tear gas. It was too great a risk to the boy's safety, the sheriff explained.

"We couldn't do anything but wait," he said Sunday.

"Having a hostage, and a hostage of this age, a child ... everybody knew just what was at stake, just how important this was," said Hamilton Police Chief Craig Bucheit.

As the standoff stretched into Saturday night, police SWAT teams from West Chester and Hamilton arrived so exhausted sheriff's SWAT members could go home and sleep.

That turned turned the response into one of the largest joint operations anyone can recall. Sheriff's office commanders remained on scene.

In all, more than 100 responders arrived at the apartment complex over three days.

The standoff is believed to be the longest in the region, second to a 2013 Latonia SWAT situation that ran 19 hours.

The operator of the complex, Springs at Liberty Township, kept the clubhouse open 24 hours to give first responders, residents and others a place to come in from the arctic cold, use the bathroom, and drink and eat.

All was fairly quiet at the complex overnight.

Then, as dawn approached, the vehicle ran low on gas.

The gunman surrendered, holding the boy's body in front of his own, officials said.

Enquirer media partner Fox19 provided this report.