BY CATHERINE TSAI
The Cincinnati Enquirer
COVINGTON -- An accused burglar was shot in the chest by an officer Saturday morning after allegedly threatening police with a semi-automatic pistol.
Marvin Douglas Dryer, 26, of Covington was listed in critical condition at University Hospital in Cincinnati on Saturday. This shooting follows Friday's, in which Cincinnati police killed a suspected bank robber on West Clifton Avenue.
In Saturday's shooting, officers were dispatched at 3 a.m. to the Cambridge Square Apartments on Promontory Drive to investigate a reported burglary.
Police said that before Covington officers Derek Brown and Jeremy Reed arrived, Mr. Dryer had climbed a balcony to the second-floor apartment of his ex-girlfriend Paulina Godawa.
He then shot through a glass patio door with Ms. Godawa, 21, and two children on the other side, police said.
Authorities say one of the officers climbed the balcony and ordered Mr. Dryer not to move. After Mr. Dryer allegedly aimed a .40-caliber semi-automatic pistol at the officer, the officer fired a shot that missed.
The other officer, who had run inside the apartment building, heard the shot and kicked in the door, police said. That officer fired three shots, one of which hit Mr. Dryer, who had turned and aimed at the second officer, authorities said.
Because the investigation continues, police would not identify which officer hit Mr. Dryer.
Neither officer is permitted to comment because of a customary internal investigation of the incident.
Lt. Col. Schmidt said Mr. Dryer will be charged with first-degree burglary, which can result in 10 to 20 years in prison if convicted, and wanton endangerment to the first degree, which can result in one to five years in prison. Both are felonies.
Mr. Dryer had no known police record, Capt. Steve Wills said. Mr. Reed has been a Covington police officer since November 1995.
Mr. Brown has been an officer since March 1989.
He was reprimanded in April for failing to tell supervisors that he removed his brother from the scene of a shooting. His brother had allegedly fired a gun in an incident stemming from a fight earlier that day. No one was hurt.
Both officers are now on a standard, three-day administrative leave.
Covington has had two other incidents within the past two years in which police shot at suspects, both after suspects fired first. A few weeks ago, Officer Kevin Brady returned fire after a 68-year-old man shot six rounds at him. Officer Brady had been called to the scene after reports of a man loading a handgun. No one was injured.
But another man died two years ago after he fired his semi-automatic, buckshot-loaded shotgun at four SWAT team members. The SWAT team shot back, killing the Erlanger man, who had briefly held his ex-wife hostage.
But Lt. Col. Schmidt said it is still rare for police to have to shoot a suspect.
"We can go for years without this happening, and, believe me, we all prefer it that way," he said.
Cincinnati police were still trying Saturday to determine if a loaded .22-caliber semi-automatic handgun in a coat left at the University of Cincinnati's student center was suspected bank robber Randy Black's.
The 23-year-old was shot to death by a city officer Friday morning as he fled a UC credit union and threw a piece of concrete at an officer, authorities said.
Police say Mr. Black walked into Cinco Credit Union in UC's Tangeman University Center just after the credit union opened at 8:30 a.m., threatened employees and demanded money, then fled without cash. Police caught up with him on Wheeler Street in Clifton Heights.
