A routine traffic stop that began in Batesville
- ended in gunfire with one person dead.
Last Wednesday, June 1, a chase began when a Batesville off-duty
officer got behind a suspicious looking vehicle. The car had
Ohio license plates and two passengers. When officers gave
chase, the vehicle fled with local officers in pursuit.
The ordeal began about 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday, and wasn't
over until 6:28 a.m. the next day, when guns were fired leaving
Dennis J. McAninch dead.
McAninch had fled from Batesville police on a 35-mile high-speed
chase ending up at a Bigfoot convenience store at the edge
of Shelbyville, where he took a hostage, Tammi Smith.
Media reports indicated that Smith was a customer in the store
when the gunman ran inside. The passenger in the gunman's vehicle
was apprehended immediately.
The 20-hour ordeal ended with Smith being pulled to safety
by officers and the Shelby County Coroner saying McAninch took
his own life.
McAninch was paroled from an Ohio prison in January where
he had served time for burglary and told the hostage he just
didn't want to go back to prison.
Smith said she tried to talk to her captor and didn't want
him to die.
One of the local officers involved in the chase was Bill Dramann
of the Ripley County Sheriff's Department.