3 young boys dead in Clermont County; father charged with murder

CLERMONT COUNTY, Ohio (WXIX) - Three children under the age of 8 are dead in Clermont County Thursday night, according to the sheriff’s office.

The boys, all brothers, are ages 3, 4 and 7.

The boys’ father, 32-year-old Chad Doerman, is charged with three counts of aggravated murder.

Doerman is being held without bond at the Clermont County Jail and will be arraigned Friday morning in Clermont County Municipal Court. The sheriff’s office says more charges could be added.

The shooting happened shortly before 4:15 p.m. at a home near the corner of Laurel Lindale Road and Clermontville Laurel Road.

Around that time, an unknown woman called 911 screaming that “her babies had been shot.” Three minutes later, a separate caller who had driven by the scene told the 911 call taker that they’d seen an underage girl running down the road saying “her father was killing everyone.”

Responding sheriff’s deputies found Doerman, whom county records list as the owner of the home, sitting on a step outside.

The deputies also found the three boys unresponsive in the yard with gunshot wounds. They tried life-saving measures until Monroe Fire/EMS arrived, but the boys died at the scene.

The boys’ mother, a 34-year-old woman, was also outside the home when deputies arrived. She had a gunshot wound to the hand. EMS transported her to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, where Clermont County Sheriff Robert Leahy informed her that her boys had died.

Deputies detained Doerman without incident.

Investigators found no signs of forced entry, and the sheriff’s office is not searching for any other suspects. There does not appear to be a threat to the community, the sheriff’s office says.

The Clermont County Coroner arrived at the scene around 7:30 p.m. The bodies of the boys were taken to the Hamilton County Coroner’s Office for autopsies.

Dispatch initially confirmed a man had opened fire at the Monroe Township Fire Station located across Clermontville Laurel Road, but the sheriff’s media release does not mention it.

The investigation is ongoing.

New Richmond Schools Superintendent issued a statement Thursday night saying, “Our hearts are once again broken tonight as we yet again ask the community to lift up those affected by this horrific incident.”

Grief counselors will be available at Monroe Elementary on Friday.

A New Richmond Middle School student died in a quadruple murder suicide in February.

“This place is always quiet. It’s a great neighborhood. Lots of kids playing at the park up there,” said neighbor Dan Thomas. “Never anything like this. Never.”

Thomas says he got home shortly after the shooting and couldn’t pull into his driveway because of the police presence.

“That’s horrible. That’s uncalled for. I don’t know what’s going on in this world. You get that mad, you walk away,” Thomas said.

See a spelling or grammar error in our story? Please click here to report it.

Do you have a photo or video of a breaking news story? Send it to us here with a brief description.

Copyright 2023 WXIX. All rights reserved.