1 person killed in Ashland police shooting, 1 officer wounded

ASHLAND — One person is dead following a police shooting Monday night.

A driver who was pulled over on Main Street allegedly opened fire on police, injuring an Ashland officer, before being shot and killed by police.

The state Attorney General’s Office said in a press release the shooting happened during a traffic stop. Ashland Police officers stopped the car, and the adult male driving produced a gun, and “engaged in an exchange of gunfire with officers.”

One officer was wounded, and the driver was also shot, and later it was determined he died at the scene.

The wounded police officer was taken to Concord Hospital-Concord to be treated for a gunshot injury, according to Michael Garrity, spokesperson for the state Department of Justice.

Police Chief William Ulwick said the wounded officer is recovering. Ulwick said the officer is going to be “OK,” and Garrity said the officer is in “good condition.”

“It was, thankfully, a non-life-threatening injury, and he’s currently recovering at the hospital,” Ulwick said on Tuesday morning.

On Tuesday afternoon, Garrity was informed the officer had since been released from the hospital.

No one else was physically injured, and the Attorney General’s Office said there is no threat to the public.

“Investigators are currently assessing if any officers had police body cameras or cruiser footage of any portion of this incident,” the release stated.

The names of the officers involved are withheld until formal interviews are complete.

“The officer shot is obviously out on paid leave until he’s cleared by the doctors to come back, and the other officer has to wait for" the investigation to take place, Ulwick said.

Ulwick said the State Police Major Crimes Unit is leading the investigation, and his department is not involved. The name of the victim will be released after the family is notified, and pending results of an autopsy by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.

Gunshots were heard just after 7 p.m. on April 20, and a section of Main Street near the fire station was blocked off with police tape following the shooting.

The road was blocked at the stop sign where Winona Road and Depot Street meet Main Street. Another section of Main was also blocked by police and fire vehicles on the opposite side. Mill Street was also blocked by fire department vehicles in the area of Minus 33, blocking the intersection with Main.

Residents just outside the tape, on the south side of Main Street, stood in front of an apartment building as a fire truck flashed its lights across the street from their home. One was Jamie Norton, who said in her four years living in Ashland, this was a first.

“It’s Ashland,” she said. “Nothing ever happens.”

Norton and other residents said they could only speculate, but heard the shooting involved a police officer. She hoped everyone was OK, and praised the local department.

“Our police department is amazing here.”

Vickie Jacobson lives on Main Street, and has been a town resident for six years. She used one word to describe her feeling watching the street in front of her home turn into a crime scene: “nervous.”

Jacobson said earlier in the evening, she started to see police and fire vehicles driving around the area, and wondered what was going on. She said it was dark out, and she didn’t know for certain what had happened. All she knew was there was a shooting. She said this was unlike anything she had experienced in town.

“I’ve never seen anything like this."

Ashland Police and Fire responded to the incident, as well as the State Police Major Crimes Unit. The investigation is being led by the state Attorney General’s Office, including the circumstances leading to the shooting.