FBI helping in manhunt from suburban Dayton shooting

DAYTON — Police today continue to investigate the shooting of four people in a Butler Twp. neighborhood on Friday as they look for the man named a person of interest in the case.

Here’s what we know today: Police cruisers and a trailer with cameras remain in the neighborhood around Hardwicke Place and Haverstraw Avenue. The Butler Twp. Police Department is leading the investigation with the help of the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. Police are looking for Stephen Marlow, who was named the person of interest in the shooting. He is a white male, 39 years old and approximately 5′11″, 160 pounds with short brown hair and was last seen wearing shorts and a yellow t-shirt. Marlow is believed to have fled the area in a white 2007 Ford Edge SUV bearing Ohio license plate JES9806.

He is considered armed and dangerous.

In a statement Saturday from the Butler Twp. police, they said Marlow may have fled Ohio. Police have not released the name of the victims, but neighbors and family have said a mother and her 15-year-old were killed at one home and an older couple was killed at a second home on Hardwicke Place. One home separates the two homes. The FBI is helping with the investigation as Marlow could have crossed state lines.

In a statement on Twitter, the FBI said: The #FBI and Butler Twp. Police are searching for Stephen Marlow, a person of interest in multiple shootings today. He was last seen in a white 2007 Ford Edge with Ohio license plate JES 9806. Call 937-233-2080, 1-800-Call-FBI or http://tips.fbi.gov with info.

Wanda Pence has lived in her Hardwicke home, located across the street from where two of the shootings took place, since the 1970s. She told the Dayton Daily News on Saturday she’s always felt safe in her neighborhood.

“People don’t even run stop signs in this neighborhood,” she said. “You hear all the time on the news, ‘Oh this is a really quiet neighborhood, nothing ever happens here.’ But it’s the truth; nothing ever happens here. I’m just shocked.”

Pence said while she’s not particularly close with her surrounding neighbors, everyone is friendly when they see each other outside.

“It’s just very disheartening that this happened here,” she said. “We’ll just have to process this. It’s certainly going to affect the neighborhood and give it a different feel.” One nearby neighbor who declined to give his name on Saturday said he has lived in the neighborhood for over three decades.

Visibly upset, the man said he and his wife had offered up their home as an area for victim’s families to gather in the immediate aftermath of the shootings.

The man said he did not know the alleged shooter but that he’d recently heard there were what seemed to be minor issues with Marlow and other neighbors, including residents on Hardwicke Place.

“He’d holler at them and say, ‘Keep the noise down, you’re too noisy in this neighborhood,’” the man said, noting that he’d didn’t personally witness Marlow yelling, but had heard this from others in the neighborhood. “They said he did that all the time, he’d holler at you if you were outside.” Marlow has connections to Chicago, where he lived for some time; Lexington, where he attended college; and Indianapolis, the FBI said.

Marlow graduated from Butler High School in 2001 and graduated from the University of Kentucky in Lexington, according to background check obtained by the Dayton Daily News.

He lived and worked in Chicago as a trader from 2006 to 2018, according to his LinkedIn profile. He most recently lived with his parents on Haverstraw Avenue, one of the streets where a part of the shooting took place, police said. — Butler Twp. police said they do not think there is an ongoing threat to the neighborhood.

The city of Vandalia have closed a number of public areas in the city out of caution as Stephen Marlow, 39, remains at large. In a statement the city said, the Recreation Center and all outdoor activities, as well as Cassel Hills Golf Course, Cassel Hills Pool and the Vandalia Senior Citizens Center will also be closed Saturday.

These closures are being implemented solely as a precaution, as there have been no known targeted threats towards any City facility.

Vandalia residents will see an increased police presence Saturday and Sunday, and City leaders will continually evaluate the situation and make any necessary adjustments. A prayer event has been organized in the community and will be held at 5 p.m. Monday in the Butler High School parking lot. The event is meant to show a message of hope, strength, love and support amid the recent tragedy, according to a Facebook post by the City of Vandalia.

Neighbors are in shock about the shooting. Wendy Chapman lives next door to one of the Hardwicke Place houses wrapped with crime scene tape. “I don’t know how to feel. I’m still stunned,” she said, describing the neighborhood as “so quiet. … At this point, I’m pissed. I feel violated. My question is why. I can’t even imagine.”