With Michael Sangiacomo

ELYRIA, Ohio -- Mourners bearing flowers, stuffed animals and balloons made their way to the Elyria police station Tuesday to honor a veteran officer shot dead the night before.

Patrolman James Kerstetter, 43, was gunned down about 10 p.m. while answering a call at a house at 326 18th Street.

Kerstetter, a married father of three girls, had been with the department for 15 years. He was a specially-trained member of the SWAT team and a mentor to rookie officers and troubled youth.

He was killed while answering a call about a troubled man. Police said Ronald Palmer, 58, killed Kerstetter just before other officers arrived and shot Palmer dead.

Several passersby stood in silence in front of Palmer's home Tuesday afternoon gazing at the house where Kerstetter and Palmer were killed. One of the onlookers knew both fallen men.

Steve Wonder of Sheffield Village grew up with Kerstetter, from Boy Scouts at age 8 through Elyria West High School. And Wonder was hired the same week as Palmer to drive tow motors at the Ford plant in Avon 17 years ago.

"They were two of the nicest guys you'd ever meet," Wonder said.

"I knew Ronnie was on medication because he was bipolar. When he was off his medication, which was rare, he would get delusional."

Wonder questioned how something like this could happen.

Kerstetter was the first officer to arrive at Palmer's house after a next-door neighbor called for help. The woman, who lived in a house she rented from Wonder, called police about 10 p.m. She said Palmer had come to her house naked and kicked in a window before walking home.

Kerstetter walked through Palmer's back door and shots were fired. Kerstetter radioed in to a dispatcher that he had been shot and needed backup. Then he collapsed. He was pronounced dead on arrival at Elyria Memorial Hospital.

Responding officers confronted Palmer, who had stepped outside. Officers fired. Palmer was pronounced dead at the scene.

Palmer's longtime neighbor George Price said he heard the shooting.

"Pow, pow, pow," he said, "then a bunch of shots, too many to count."

Police refused to reveal any further details of the shootings, including the location of Kerstetter's injuries or the encounter between Palmer and other officers.

The Lorain County Sheriff's Office is investigating both shootings.

Kerstetter was a sheriff's deputy before he joined the Elyria department on Sept. 6, 1994. He also was a driving instructor at the Central Ohio Police Officers Training Academy in Reynoldsburg, where he trained other driving instructors.

He leaves behind his wife, Tammy, and three daughters, Misty, 17, Shelby, 14, and Bailey, 8. Donations for the family can be made at any First Merit Bank branch.

Funeral information

Calling hours are 2 to 9 p.m. Thursday and Friday at the Bauer-Laubenthal-Mercado Funeral Home, 38475 Chestnut Ridge Road, Elyria.

Funeral service is 10 a.m. Saturday at the Lorain County Community College Field House, 1005 Abbe Road, Elyria.

Burial will be in Resthaven Memory Gardens, 3700 Center Road, Avon.

Kerstetter's family could not be reached to comment on his death.

"It's terrible," Chief Duane Whitely said. "He was a top-notch officer, a friend to everyone and he loved being a cop. He was always a calming force at a crime scene...He was not the kind of guy to sit quietly in a room. He stood out, seemed to always be laughing."

Christina McKay, who left a spray of flowers at the station Tuesday morning, said she and Kerstetter had been friends for the last five years. She works as a security guard at Lorain County Community College.

"He's the kind of guy who always follows protocol, follows the rules," she said. "He would have given (Palmer) every chance possible [to drop the gun], and that's what did him in."

William Wells, a burly, bald and tattooed man in his 20s, carried a bouquet past the memorial and walked into the station. He walked to the door, which was opened by records clerk Paulette Kelley, handed her the flowers and said softly, "This just ain't right."

"Don't you go crying on me," she said as they embraced.

Kerstetter had befriended Wells when Wells was a young and rebellious boy, Kelley said. Kerstetter mentored him and kept him out of trouble.

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It was unclear Tuesday if Kerstetter had crossed paths with Pamer before. But a year ago officers were called to his house after he threatened to kill his wife. He was charged with aggravated menacing, domestic violence and unlawful restraint for the March 26 incident.

According to the police report, neighbors heard Palmer's wife, Garnetta, scream for help. When officers arrived, they saw Palmer, naked and holding his wife of 34 years in a bear hug.

She was crying. He told officers he was trying to talk her out of filing for divorce.

Then he spoke of his dead grandparents, saying they had been shot and killed. And he spoke of being reincarnated as Jesus. The officers noted in their report that the couple had a history of mental issues.

After Palmer released his wife, she told the officers that he had threatened her.

"I'm gonna do you like my grandfather and grandmother," he said, according to the report.

There was a .38-caliber handgun in their bedroom.

Garnetta Palmer had minor injuries, including scratches and broken fingernails.

Palmer was released on bond under a judge's order to get a psychological evaluation and to stay away from his wife. He pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct in Elyria Municipal Court on Sept. 24, and the more serious misdemeanor charges were dropped. He was fined $100.

Records also show that officers were first called to Palmer's house in August 1994 for a disturbance. Police also went to the house in September 2002 when Palmer threatened to kill himself.

There's no record in Lorain County Common Pleas Court of the couple divorcing and neighbors disagreed on the number of children they had.

Tina Phillips, who lived next door to Palmer, said she was stunned by the shootings. Palmer was a nice guy, she said.

"He'd mow your lawn, invite us over for barbecues and coffee," she said. "There was never any trouble."

Kerstetter's death in the line of duty was the first in 68 years for the department. Howard Taft was killed in 1942.

Kerstetter was the 177th Northeast Ohio peace officer killed in the line of duty.

The 176th was 30-year-old Cleveland Heights Patrolman Thomas Patton II, who died of a cardiac problem Saturday night while chasing a suspect who had spit on a fellow officer. He will be buried Thursday.

Funeral arrangement were not available Tuesday for Kerstetter. His body was released to the Bauer Laubenthal Funeral Home in Elyria.

Both officers' names will be inscribed in May on the Greater Cleveland Peace Officers Memorial.