Tragedy unfolded on Thursday afternoon at Orrville Power Plant on Perry Street, where two individuals lost their lives in an event that authorities are investigating as a murder-suicide, according to a Cleveland19 report. Orrville police responded to an emergency call at approximately 3:17 p.m., where they found two men with gunshot wounds in the power plant's parking lot, as per the sourced information from cleveland.com.
The shooter, identified as 69-year-old Robert R. Simon of Wooster, was declared dead at the scene, while the 46-year-old male victim, an employee at the plant, later died at the hospital despite emergency medical efforts, in the incident disclosed in the social media by Mayor Matt Plybon and as further detailed in a WKYC article, while stressing the situation was quickly contained with no further threat to the public.
The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation is now leading the charge in determining why this fatal scenario took place. Police Chief Coty Seiler relayed in a statement that officers immediately secured the area and coordinated emergency medical responses, as can be gleaned from the details in the Cleveland19 coverage, suggesting the depth of immediate law enforcement and emergency service response.
As investigators piece together the motives behind Simon's actions, who purportedly shot the unnamed victim before turning the gun on himself, Orrville police, they've urged anyone with potentially valuable information to come forward and contact BCI at 855-224-6446, the ongoing investigation striving to put together the shattered pieces of what led to the shooting, this call to action was echoed across the various reports including WKYC's release.
