Procession across central Ohio honors Morrow County deputy killed with responding to call
The May 28 procession will bring Sherrer's body from Montgomery County to Snyder Funeral Home in Mount Gilead. It traveled east through Columbus on Interstate 270 and is moving north on Interstate 71.
More on Morrow County Sheriff deputy: Morrow County Sheriff identifies deputy shot, killed responding to domestic violence call
The funeral home has not announced a date for Sherrer's memorial service.
The Morrow County Sheriff's Office will hold a public candlelight vigil for Sherrer at 8:30 p.m. May 28 at its office at 101 Home Rd. in Mount Gilead.
At a press conference May 27, Morrow County Sheriff John Hinton remembered Sherrer as a cheerful, friendly man who "always had a smile on his face." Sherrer was 31.
Sherrer responded Memorial Day evening to a report of gunshots from a home in the 100 block of County Road 26 (Olive Green Marengo Fulton Road) at the intersection with County Road 15 (West Liberty-Mount Vernon Road), south of Marengo, according to the sheriff's office.
There he encountered Brian Michael Wilson, 53, who has been charged with aggravated murder in his death, according to court records. Wilson threatened Sherrer several times before the two exchanged gunfire, killing Sherrer and injuring Wilson, according to an arrest affidavit.
Wilson was transported to a local hospital after the shooting, and an initial court date in his case hasn't been set.
Wilson had a history of domestic violence and firearm convictions from 1994 to 2009 when he lived in Marion and had been barred from owning firearms. He used two handguns to shoot Sherrer, according to an account of the shooting contained in a police affidavit.
Public Safety and Breaking News Reporter Bailey Gallion can be reached at bagallion@dispatch.com.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Central Ohio honors slain Morrow County deputy Daniel Shearer
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New York Post
21 hours ago
- New York Post
Inside ‘busy season' for hero local Coast Guard crew
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CNN
2 days ago
- CNN
US used up about a quarter of its high-end missile interceptors during Israel-Iran war, exposing gap in supplies
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Former US defense officials and missile experts told CNN that the rapid drawdown has also raised concerns about America's global security posture and ability to regenerate supplies at speed. Last year, the US produced only 11 new THAAD interceptors and is expected to receive just 12 more this fiscal year, according to the 2026 budget estimates from the Department of Defense. In response to questions regarding the US's THAAD stockpile and the expenditure of interceptors during the 12-day conflict, Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson said the US military 'is the strongest it has even been and has everything it needs to conduct any mission anywhere, anytime, all around the world. If you need further proof, look no further than Operation Midnight Hammer and the total obliteration of Iran's nuclear capabilities.' CNN reported that an early intelligence assessment determined the US' strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities last month did not destroy the core components of the country's nuclear program and likely only set it back by months. The US administration dismissed the assessment, and the CIA later said it had evidence Iran's nuclear program was 'severely damaged.' A defense official declined to provide information on the THAAD inventory due to operational security concerns, but said the Defense Department 'remains postured to respond to any threat.' The number of THAADs spent in the 12-day war was first reported by The Wall Street Journal. Despite the heavy use of THAADs during the 12-day war to help fend off Tehran's assault last month, dozens of Iranian missiles still struck Israel. THAAD is a mobile system that can engage and destroy short-, medium-, and intermediate-range ballistic missiles both inside and outside of the Earth's atmosphere during their final phase of flight. 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Analysis conducted by DC-based think tank Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA) estimated that THAADs – alongside Israel's Arrow-2 and Arrow-3 interceptors – downed 201 of Iran's 574 missiles, with 57 hitting populated areas. The report estimated that the US' THAAD system accounted for almost half of all interceptions, indicating that Israel's Arrow interceptor stockpiles were insufficient. Israel's Iron Dome system was designed to deflect shorter-range rockets than those being fired by Iran. 'After burning through a large portion of their available interceptors, the United States and Israel both face an urgent need to replenish stockpiles and sharply increase production rates,' Ari Cicurel, author of the report, wrote, estimating that it would take three to eight years to replenish at current production rates. According to data compiled by JINSA, interception rates lagged as the war wore on. Only 8% of Iranian missiles penetrated defenses in the first week of the war. That doubled to 16% in the second half of the conflict and eventually culminated at 25% on the final day of the war before the ceasefire. Analysts say there are several possible reasons for the trend, including an Iranian shift of focus from military targets to populated urban areas, where interception is less robust. Iran also fired more sophisticated missiles as the war progressed. '(Iran) increasingly employed more advanced systems,' said Mora Deitch, head of the data analytics center at Israel's Institute for National Security Studies (INSS). 'These included newer missiles with multiple warheads or decoys, which may individually cause less damage but can overwhelm and saturate air defense systems.' Deitch also suggests that Israel may have deliberately relaxed its interception rate. 'Israel's air defense policy may have evolved over time to accommodate a protracted engagement with Iran,' said Deitch. 'What appears as a decline in interception effectiveness might instead reflect a deliberate shift in strategy rather than a technological shortfall.' Still missile defense analysts say they saw clear signs of air defense depletion. 'The presence of the THAAD battery in the first place suggests that the Israelis don't have a super deep interceptor magazine,' said Sam Lair, research associate at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS). Lair published analysis of interceptors seen in a series of social media video taken by a Jordanian photographer, Zaid Abbadi, from his rooftop in an Amman suburb as the missiles flew overhead. Lair counted 39 THAAD among 82 advanced interceptors in the sample, which consisted of sporadically recorded night-time recording. CNN was able to verify the THAAD tally from the videos. Over half a dozen experts say the number represents a very conservative baseline. Drawing on calculations about publicly available data on batteries, interceptor reloads, and the number of Iranian ballistic missiles fired, experts believe that the US military fired at least 80 THAAD interceptors. 'The 12-day war in June of this year essentially saw the first significant expenditure of THAAD interceptors,' said Timur Kadyshev, a senior researcher at the Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy at the University of Hamburg. 'Israel was relatively successful in defending (with the US assistance) against unsophisticated Iranian missiles – at the cost of depleting available arsenals of interceptors.' The problem for the US is especially acute in the Indo-Pacific where China has tried to keep the US navy at arm's length, experts say. 'From a narrowly military standpoint, the Chinese are absolutely the winners in that these last almost two years in the Middle East have seen the US expend pretty substantial amounts of capabilities that the American defense industrial base will find pretty hard to replace,' said Sidharth Kaushal, senior research fellow at Royal United Services Institute. Ex-defense officials said dwindling defensive capabilities in the Indo-Pacific was a growing concern for the former administration of President Joe Biden as they used the US stockpile to battle Yemen's Houthi rebels. 'God forbid there should be a conflict in the Pacific, for example, then it really will put a huge strain our missile capacity and the ability for our military to have the munitions necessary to keep up,' said one former senior Biden administration defense official with direct knowledge of the US campaign against the Houthis. 'You have to make choices,' said Jennifer Kavanagh, senior fellow and director of military analysis at Defense Priorities. 'The Biden administration also should have thought about these trade-offs, but they were able to shrug them off because it was early in these wars… stockpiles were still deep enough that they could turn a blind eye to it.' 'But the Trump administration now is getting to a point where they're not going to be able to ignore the trade-offs.' CNN's Haley Britzky contributed to this report.
San Francisco Chronicle
2 days ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Mt. Tam railroad's last survivor restored and ready for new role at California museum
SACRAMENTO — Early morning commuters on Highway 37 Friday would have been taken aback by an ancient mode of transportation rolling alongside the old passenger railroad tracks that once connected Marin County to Vallejo and the world beyond. It was Engine No. 9, the last relic of the fabled Mount Tamalpais and Muir Woods Railway, on a tractor trailer headed up the line to Sacramento. The steam locomotive, built in 1921 and lettered in gold, was bound for the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento, where it will go on public display in August. This completes a seven-year restoration effort by Friends of No. 9, a nonprofit that sank $500,000 and 15,000 volunteer hours into arriving at this point. 'This is like a coronation for us,' said Fred Runner, President of Friends of No. 9, the Novato nonprofit that got the job done. The engine was delivered in a five-vehicle parade from Sebastopol to Sacramento, led by Sheedy Drayage of San Francisco, which transported the 36-ton load of iron and steel, free of charge. 'To be invited to the CSRM is like having a vintage car invited to show at the Concours d'Elegance in Pebble Beach,' Runner said. 'It's a very rare thing that just doesn't happen. But it did.' As a teaser for the railroad museum display, No. 9 was brought by the same Sheedy Drayage trailer to the Mill Valley Depot over Memorial Day weekend. It made its public premiere in the town parade, with its bell ringing and the whistle blowing and smoke coming out of the engine. 'There was a tremendous display of enthusiasm by people who loved the engine and thought it should stay at the depot,' Runner said. But by then the train was already rolling to Sacramento, a commitment made a year ago, when it was still in mid-restoration at a workshop. That was a job that took five years from the moment it was purchased at auction up near Eureka, where it had sat out in the weather gathering rust for 62 years. 'We are lucky that there is this marvelous group of obsessives that tracks these old steam engines,' said Runner, who led a team that outbid five other obsessive parties to muster up the winning bid of $56,240 to buy No. 9. There were 15 members of the bidding party, most of whom were devoted to the lore of the old Mount Tam railroad line and knew this was the last remaining piece of it. 'There is this whole fabric of stories about the lore of Mount Tam, and the railroad is at the center of it,' said Runner, a movie sound mixer who worked on 'Basic Instinct,' 'Mrs. Doubtfire,' 'Total Recall' and most recently 'Top Gun: Maverick,' which won an Academy Award for sound two years ago. 'As a moviemaker I'm interested in stories, and the stories about Mount Tam are tremendous,' Runner said. The story of the Mount Tam railway, which called itself 'the crookedest little railroad in the world,' was told in the 1980s in 'Steaming Up Tamalpais,' a short documentary by Mill Valley filmmaker Cris Chater. Runner saw it at the Mill Valley Film Festival and started tracing the tourist railroad line, which was built in 1896 and scrapped in 1930. Its 8.1 miles of track from the Mill Valley depot to the Mount Tam summit — 281 turns later — had been ripped out, as was the 2-mile spur into Muir Woods. Only Engine No. 9 survived, probably because it was still new with life left in it when the railway closed so it wasn't sold for scrap. It worked an additional 25 years hauling lumber from the forest to the mills. 'Amazingly it didn't get melted down to turn into weapons during World War II,' Runner said. No. 9 was no longer in running condition when the Friends bought it at auction, and it is still not in running condition because the boiler would need to be rebuilt and certified at a cost of $150,000, he estimated. The engine is 34 feet long, 12 feet high and 9 feet wide, and every aspect including the nonworking boiler was taken apart piece by piece. It was all repaired, cleaned, greased and then put back together — tender, cab, boiler, frame, even the assembly for the steel wheels. 'The restoration of the No. 9 represents the very best impulses of the preservation community,' said Ty Smith, director of the California State Railroad Museum. 'Although the locomotive won't steam passengers up Mount Tamalpais, it serves as a window into a remarkable episode in California history. We're grateful to be able to share in telling this important story.' When it arrived by caravan Friday morning, No. 9 was put onto the museum's railroad track and pushed along to its display stage. At that point, Runner was allowed to sit in the engineer's seat and listen to the valves open and close while No. 9 was actually moving on live track for the first time since 1953. It went only a few hundred feet, but the ride was smooth, thanks to 16 new springs. 'To feel the engine actually moving and hearing it hiss was a thrill,' he said. The engine was then removed to storage space, to allow museum staff time to finalize the exhibit. No. 9 will be up for six months with a possible extension, but it still needs a permanent home. 'While it is in Sacramento, we are working on it,' Runner said. 'It's an extraordinary piece of local history that deserves to be remembered.'
