Cleveland police officer dead after shooting
CLEVELAND PLAIN DEALER

August 31, 2006, 8:45 a.m. (updated 10:15)

A Cleveland police officer was shot to death about midnight on the West Side.

Officers were serving an arrest warrant at a single family-home on West 98th Street — near Detroit Avenue — when the confrontation turned into a shooting, police spokeswoman Nancy Dominik said.

Patrolman Jonathan J. Schroeder, 37, was taken by police to MetroHealth Medical Center, where he died from his injuries.

Mayor Frank Jackson, Safety Director Martin Flask and dozens of officers camt to MetroHealth to support Schroeder's family.

The officer's family lives in Pittsburgh and the Ohio Highway Patrol and scores of police cars escorted the family to Cleveland in the early morning hours.

A 37-year-old man named Wilson Santiago was arrested after the shooting.

Police and Steve Loomis, president of the Cleveland Police Patrolmen's Association, described the morning's events this way:

Schroeder was one of 12 to 15 officers from the First District serving a warrant on a burglary and rape suspect.

As Schroeder and the others prepared to batter down the door, the wanted man peaked out, saw the police, slammed the door, then fired two shots it.

One hit a squad car. The other hit the 10-year veteran under the arm, where his bullet-proof vest does not cover. The bullet, fired from a .357-caliber magnum handgun, punctured his heart.

He was taken to MetroHealth, but it was too late. He leaves behind a wife and an infant son.

The tragic death brings together the already tight law enforcement community.

Schroeder's parents and his wife's parents live in a suburb of Pittsburgh.

Pittsburgh police went to the parents' houses and broke the news as the Ohio Highway Patrol escorted two cars from Cleveland there to retrieve the family members and bring them here. Once the cars reached the border Pennsylvania State Troopers continued the escort.

As the cars approached Cleveland, police from surrounding cities were waiting along the interstate and they joined in the procession. There were 27 cars from about 20 jurisdictions by the time they reached the hospital.

By the time they returned at least 150 officers had gathered there. They hugged, joined in circles, cried and prayed

The last Cleveland police officer to be killed in the line of duty was Wayne Leon on June 25, 2000.

David I. Andersen/The Plain Dealer

David I. Andersen/The Plain Dealer

A member of the Cuyahoga County Coroner's office investigates the scene
on W. 98th Street near Madison Ave. where a Cleveland police officer was
shot and killed early this morning. (David I. Andersen/The Plain Dealer)

Herman Armstrong, 39, of Cleveland, said he was sitting on his mother’s porch a few doors away when about seven unmarked cars and two marked police cars pulled up to the house.

Armstrong said a group of officers began banging on the door, some saying, “Will, Come on out.”

Then, Armstrong said, it was “boom, boom, boom, boom,” and a man in a white shirt fell to the ground.

“I saw one dude fall down,” Armstrong said. “The others grabbed him and dragged him away. Then everyone started shooting at the house.”

About five to 10 minutes later, according to neighbor Ray Dearden, a man came out of the house, walking backwards. He was led by police way from the home, and then began resisting arresting - at one point shouting, "Go ahead and shoot."

Lorenzo Sanders, 33, said he was walking home from work when he noticed several detectives go by in cars before hearing five shots.

“It’s a normal thing to hear gunshots around here. But this was so close I was like, ‘Man.’ When I got in the house, I was still shaking,” Sanders said. “All I heard was boom, boom, boom.”

By Gabriel Baird, Brian Albrecht and Carl Matzelle, balbrecht@plaind.com and cmatzelle@plaind.com