Two parolees and one careless mother caused chaos for authorities. In the span of just an hour, local law enforcement dealt with a robbery, a stolen car, two car chases, and a toddler firing a gun in Walmart.
It started around 10:30 am, when Zachary Boone, who’d been released on parole from the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility that morning, stole a car, robbed a gas station, and robbed a man of his phone and tried to run him over. He also led Waverly Officers on a police chase that ended in a crash on Second Street. Boone was arrested on robbery and assault charges, which coincidentally were the same things that sent him to prison in the first place.
At the same time, a toddler, who’d gotten its little hands on a gun in his mom’s purse, opened fire at Walmart. Fortunately, the bullets went into the ceiling. The child went to urgent care for minor injuries sustained from the recoil, and the mother went to jail for endangering children.
Around 11:15 am, Pike County Deputies joined the Ohio State Patrol in the hunt for a parolee who ran from Ohio State Troopers. Piketon resident Dakota Lansing, who was on parole for an aggravated robbery sentence, drove the wrong way down Rt. 32 before ending up on Smokey Hollow Road, where he crashed into troopers who fired shots at him. Lansing hid in a nearby home, but officers soon came and got him. He was arrested for felony fleeing and eluding, felonious assault, and for a parole violation.
Pike County Sheriff Tracy Evans praised local law enforcement and EMS for working together. “When everyone goes home safe and the bad guys go to jail, it is a good day.”