Michael Decker

CADIZ — What began with what authorities have described as a routine traffic stop Monday morning turned into a high-speed chase, three officer-involved shootings and a manhunt that extended well into the evening, and ended with the suspect’s death.

Michael W. Decker, 53, died as the result of injuries received in an officer-involved shooting in a wooded area along Mine Road in Green Township, Harrison County Sheriff Mark Touville said in statement released Tuesday afternoon.

The series of events began at 11:35 a.m. Monday when a sheriff’s deputy stopped a vehicle on U.S. 250 near Eslik Road in Franklin Township. Decker, who was the passenger in the vehicle involved in the traffic stop, fled in the vehicle, according to authorities, after an exchange of gunfire.

Troopers from the Steubenville Post of the Ohio State Highway Patrol responded to a call for backup, located Decker’s vehicle and attempted to make a traffic stop, but Decker fled and a pursuit followed, the OSHP said in a release.

A tire deflation device was deployed along Route 22, with sheriff’s deputies, Cadiz police officers and state troopers involved, and Decker exited the vehicle near Old Hopedale Road, the patrol explained. Decker fired multiple shots, striking an OSHP cruiser, before running into the woods.

Decker was located in the woods between Mine and Black roads, the patrol reported. Verbal commands given to Decker from the patrol’s air units were not followed, the patrol said. While attempting to arrest Decker, a third officer-involved shooting occurred, and Decker succumbed to his injuries, the releases said.

Touville said that in addition to the Cadiz Police Department and the OSHP, law enforcement support came from the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department, the Jefferson County Drug Task Force, the Belmont County Sheriff’s Department, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, the U.S. Marshals Service and other agencies that supplied information.

All three officer-involved shootings are being investigated by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigations.

Steve Irwin, press secretary for the Ohio Attorney General’s Office, said Tuesday afternoon that investigation is ongoing. He said when it is complete, it will be referred to the Harrison County prosecutor’s office.