Another shooting involving local police -- and a young officer with a wife and three-month old daughter is dead.
Twinsburg police are coping with the first-ever loss of an active-duty police officer. During "closing time", just before two o'clock this morning, what should have been a routine traffic stop turned into just what officers fear the most. A suspect is behind bars but the brother/sisterhood in blue is in shock and mourning.
Josh Miktarian was only 33 years old; he grew up in Tallmadge, worked hard to build a pizza franchise business on the side in Sagamore Hills. He joined the Twinsburg police force in 1997, an 11-year veteran in a community where "mean streets" usually applies to cities 20 miles to the north and south. Fellow officers tell us he loved to play guitar with friends in a band. Just part of the story of the man in the picture, the life behind that smile. There is more we will hear in the coming days.
Miktarian's wife Holly and daughter Thea will find overwhelming support from family, friends and a community but never the solace of an answer to fully explain the reason why their husband and father was taken from them because any answer will never be reasonable.
At this point police are still trying to figure out answers themselves; why routine escalated, why the suspect (unnamed as of this post) may have pulled the trigger. At this point we're not sure if drugs or alcohol were in the car, why Miktarian didn't feel the need to use his K-9 companion (left in the cruiser), even if dash-cam video or audio will be of help in trying to fill in the why. The facts -- who, when, where, what, even how --will likely come out in the next few days, but not likely to ever satisfy why.
Midway through July, just barely into summer. An officer in Twinsburg killed in the line of duty; a retired Canton police officer murdered; a police-involved shooting in Akron that left a father of 12 dead. Is this a spell of bad times we are going through or do the bad times reflect something deeper, a change in our society where anger and rage so easily boil over? What triggers people to turn into those who take breath away instead of taking a deep breath ourselves?
Retired Twinsburg officer Tom Austin openly shed tears while talking about his friend Josh, and the changes he's seen over the years, trying to make sense of why people lose it faster or don't even seem to care about holding together.
Twinsburg police are coping with the first-ever loss of an active-duty police officer. During "closing time", just before two o'clock this morning, what should have been a routine traffic stop turned into just what officers fear the most. A suspect is behind bars but the brother/sisterhood in blue is in shock and mourning.
Josh Miktarian was only 33 years old; he grew up in Tallmadge, worked hard to build a pizza franchise business on the side in Sagamore Hills. He joined the Twinsburg police force in 1997, an 11-year veteran in a community where "mean streets" usually applies to cities 20 miles to the north and south. Fellow officers tell us he loved to play guitar with friends in a band. Just part of the story of the man in the picture, the life behind that smile. There is more we will hear in the coming days.Miktarian's wife Holly and daughter Thea will find overwhelming support from family, friends and a community but never the solace of an answer to fully explain the reason why their husband and father was taken from them because any answer will never be reasonable.
At this point police are still trying to figure out answers themselves; why routine escalated, why the suspect (unnamed as of this post) may have pulled the trigger. At this point we're not sure if drugs or alcohol were in the car, why Miktarian didn't feel the need to use his K-9 companion (left in the cruiser), even if dash-cam video or audio will be of help in trying to fill in the why. The facts -- who, when, where, what, even how --will likely come out in the next few days, but not likely to ever satisfy why.
Midway through July, just barely into summer. An officer in Twinsburg killed in the line of duty; a retired Canton police officer murdered; a police-involved shooting in Akron that left a father of 12 dead. Is this a spell of bad times we are going through or do the bad times reflect something deeper, a change in our society where anger and rage so easily boil over? What triggers people to turn into those who take breath away instead of taking a deep breath ourselves?
Retired Twinsburg officer Tom Austin openly shed tears while talking about his friend Josh, and the changes he's seen over the years, trying to make sense of why people lose it faster or don't even seem to care about holding together.
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