UPDATE:
- The suspect in the shooting has been identified as 56-year-old Frank Staton of Chardon. He is in the hospital, under police guard, in critical condition.
A surreal situation for residents at the Hamlet Village retirement community in Chagrin Falls continued well into Thursday evening.
Police said a man who worked at the complex shot and killed two co-workers before he was shot himself. The suspect is in critical condition at Hillcrest Hospital and police would not confirm if the gunshot he suffered was self-inflicted.
Around 6:30 p.m., 10 hours after the shooting, the suspect’s black Dodge pickup truck was towed from the scene and the crime tape finally came down.
Inside building 14, blood stains still covered the stairs and the area where at least two shell casings were taken out from the walls was visible.
Hilda Mattlin, 90, said she heard a sharp noise right outside her door around 8 a.m.
“But that was all,” Mattlin said. “Then we saw the man lying outside the door, but we didn’t put the two pieces together. We really didn’t understand what was happening.”
One of the victims, Catherine Sutter, 58, worked as a housekeeper for the Mattlins.
“I just can’t believe she’s gone. I can’t believe we won’t see her, because she was really so much a part of our lives,” Mattlin said. “She did everything, I depended on her.”
The other victim, 58-year-old Terri Treadway, is believe to have lived with the shooter in a Chardon home. Geauga County Sheriff’s deputies were at the home Thursday afternoon removing evidence.
Chagrin Falls Sgt. Kimberley Libens said the suspect is expected to be charged sometime Friday.
