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Bryan J. Eubanks, 37, has lost his job with the Newcomerstown Police Department and could face charges.

(cleveland.com file photo)

NEW PHILADELPHIA, Ohio -- A police officer who last week said he was shot in the arm during a traffic stop, leading to a statewide manhunt for two suspects, made up the story, investigators say.

Now Bryan J. Eubanks, 37, has lost his job with the Newcomerstown Police Department and could face charges, the Canton Repository reports.

Eubanks, who had been working with the department for 14 years, admitted to investigators that the shooting was a result of a failed suicide attempt, Tuscarawas County Sheriff Orvis Campbell tells the Repository.

"At the end of the day we had to do our job and he'll be held accountable just like anybody else will," Campbell said.

Eubanks had said he pulled over two men in a black Geo Tracker on April 11. He said the men were armed with a shotgun and handguns and opened fire, wounding him.

The search for the suspects resulted in one man being taken into custody before being cleared.

Witnesses later said they did not see a Geo Tracker at the spot where Eubanks claimed he had pulled the vehicle over, the Columbus Dispatch reports.

Campbell said Eubanks has been "struggling emotionally" since working last year on the murder case of Jane Plants of Newcomerstown, and that he has been cooperating with investigators.

Eubanks was released into his family's custody and will seek mental health treatment, reports say.

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