Charges announced against SWAT standoff suspect accused of opening fire on police

CINCINNATI (WXIX) - A seven-hour SWAT standoff with a barricaded gunman who fired several shots at Cincinnati police ended peacefully with the suspect surrendering early Monday, according to the police chief.

No one was hurt, Chief Terri Theetge said in a briefing at the scene.

Paul Mitchell, 49, was taken into custody at 12:35 a.m.

He was charged with felonious assault and booked into the Hamilton County Justice Center at 4:35 a.m.

He is scheduled to face a judge at 9 a.m. Tuesday.

More charges are expected. He also has some outstanding ones including obstructing official business, court records show.

It all started as an “unknown trouble” run to a residence in the 1200 block of Drott Avenue near Glenway Avenue at 5:26 p.m. Sunday, police said.

Mitchell was in the home with his wife when police arrived, the chief said. He refused to come out.

They considered him a barricaded suspect at that point, so SWAT was called up, the chief said.

When the SWAT officers arrived, she said Mitchell opened fire, squeezing off about 30 rounds at them.

SWAT negotiators stayed calm and patiently coaxed Mitchell into letting his wife walk out of the home.

They did not return fire, according to Lt. Jonathan Cunningham, police spokesman.

SWAT negotiators continued to patiently urge him to surrender.

Shortly after midnight, those efforts paid off.

“Here we are, almost seven hours later, and due to the phenomenal work and patience of the officers here at the scene, it ended peacefully and Mr. Mitchell surrendered,” Chief Theetge said. “No injuries to any officers. No injuries to Mr. Mitchell or the person who called 911.”

After Mitchell walked out of the home and was taken into custody, the SWAT team searched his residence and cleared it of all weapons, according to the chief

“Our criminalist from our Criminal Investigation Section will be here shortly to process this as a crime scene,” she said.

This all comes at the end of a particularly violent weekend in Cincinnati.

Nine people have been shot in the city since Friday - including a 7-year-old girl as she played outside in North Avondale - and two officers also were shot at, according to police.

One was a city parking enforcement officer in West Price Hill on Friday night. The other is a Cincinnati Police officer in Westwood Sunday afternoon.

No one was hurt but the officer’s parking enforcement vehicle was struck at least three times, police say. No arrests were announced.

CPD arrested a 14-year-old male in connection with the police officer’s shooting.

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