Fred Wild III

Law enforcement agencies remain this morning at a property in the 1400 block of state Route 7 in Brookfield, where police shot and killed a Girard man who was the subject of a chase across Trumbull County. Officers fired when the man tried to run them over in a stolen pickup truck, according to reports.

A news release from the Ohio State Highway Patrol and the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation identified the dead man as Fred H. Wild III, 50, of Keefer Road, Girard, Wild was the only occupant of a stolen pickup truck that was attempting to flee the Route 7 property as police officers approached.

Officers from various departments were called to the Route 7 address about 1:04 a.m. on a report of a man trespassing on private property.

A Trumbull County Sheriff’s cruiser sits this morning in the driveway at 1433 state Route 7 in Brookfield, where officers were involved in a fatal shooting shortly after 1 a.m. (Staff photo / R. Michael Semple)

Earlier on Monday night, a police chase that started in Lordstown ended at the railroad tracks on Merwin Chase Road in Brookfield,which was just southwest of the Route 7 property.

Reports state that a pickup drove down the tracks and got stuck. The driver jumped out of the truck and ran. Authorities called off the search until the 911 call early this morning about a trespasser in a cabin.

As officers approached the cabin, the man, identified as Wild, jumped out of the window and into a pickup truck that had a snowplow attached. The man then drove the pickup at officers. Multiple officers fired their weapons, the report states.

The release did not say how many times Wild was struck. Brookfield Fire Departments emergency medical services responded to the scene, where Wild was pronounced dead.

For several early morning hours, state Route 7 was closed north of Route 82 while investigators processed the scene. As of 8 a.m., a sole Trumbull County sheriff’s vehicle was sitting at the end of the driveway near Route 7. About 8:30 a.m., a state patrol aircraft flew overhead, circling the crime scene.

Count jail records show that Wild was last incarcerated for about seven weeks in December 2020 / January 2021 for a domestic violence, OVI case out of Girard Municipal Court. Another charge of failure to comply was filed against Wild by Liberty police for the earlier chase, court records show.