Ronald C. Hambright, 49, of 1705 Notman Road, reportedly kept deputies at
bay Sunday while he was inside his home with a shotgun. While authorities
tried to negotiate with the man, he allegedly threw several other firearms
out of the house while wielding his gun, according to Portage County Sheriff
Duane Kaley.
``Basically the problem seemed to be that about a week ago, his wife served
him with divorce papers after 30-some years of marriage,'' Kaley said. ``He
had called his son in Akron and warned him he was going to take his own
life. The son came out to see what was going on, and an altercation took
place with his son. He had busted out some of the windows in the house,
and he blew a hole through the TV.''
Hambright, who owns a barber shop in Alliance, remains held in the Portage
County Jail in lieu of $65,000 in cash bonds. Portage County Municipal Court
Judge Donald Martell set $15,000 cash bonds for each of four felonious assault
charges and another $5,000 for a charge of inducing a panic, a first-degree
misdemeanor.
Hambright pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanor charge Monday before Martell.
Hambright's next court appearance will be 9 a.m. Friday for his preliminary
hearing.
``I've never been in trouble in my life, and I'm sure that these charges
will be reduced later,'' Hambright said in court Monday during his arraignment.
The sheriff's office was called to the scene at about noon Sunday to handle
a report of a combative domestic situation, Kaley said.
``Upon our arrival, several shots had been fired, and there had been a wrestling
match inside the house involving a shotgun,'' Kaley added, describing a
struggle between Hambright and his son, Curtis W. Hambright, 20.
``He was trying to get us engaged in a confrontation,'' Kaley said. ``It
was one of those situations where we sat back and negotiated it. We had
guys around the perimeter. Quite frankly, he wanted us to engage, but through
training we knew enough to try to wait it out and talk to him. We finally
won out.''
Hambright allegedly came outside of the house and threatened to shoot someone,
taunting the officers to get them to come closer to the residence while
saying he wanted to start a war, Kaley said.
Several bullet holes were found in the residence, which Hambright also reportedly
tried to set on fire. The man allegedly piled several newspapers on top
of the kitchen table and set them on fire, saying he wanted to burn the
house down, Kaley said.
``We're happy to say that the house is still standing,'' Kaley added.
The felonious assault charges are a result of confrontations between Hambright
and sheriff's deputies Pat Burns, Mark Proch and Harold Brown and Detective
Terry Sells.
About 12 officers were on the scene for about three hours. Emergency rescue
crews from the Deerfield and Palmyra fire departments also were on the scene
for assistance. No one was seriously injured during the incident, according
to sheriff's reports.
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