COLUMBUS: An Ohio police officer has died two days after he was critically wounded when a man opened fire on a SWAT team trying to arrest him.
Columbus police say Officer Steven M. Smith died late Tuesday afternoon, surrounded by his family. He was 54 years old.
Police say 44-year-old Columbus resident Lincoln Rutledge shot Smith in the head and held police at bay for several hours on Sunday.
Rutledge was denied bond on Tuesday and remains jailed on charges including felonious assault.
The Franklin County Public Defender Office is representing Rutledge. County Public Defender Yeura Venters declined to comment Tuesday.
Smith was a 27-year veteran of the Columbus police force. He leaves behind his wife of 32 years and two adult children.
Smith is the 54th Columbus police officer killed in the line of duty.
Smith and other officers were trying to arrest Rutledge who allegedly set a fire the day before at his estranged wife’s house, according to a detective who testified at a bond hearing Tuesday.
A statement from Ohio State University, where Rutledge was employed, said he resigned April 3, 2016, as an information technology security engineer there while on a leave that he had requested Feb. 1.