BROOKFIELD — Fred Wild’s last hours of life showed him to be a man of desperation.

The 50-year-old Girard man’s life ended when he was shot by police during the early morning hours of March 21 on private property off state Route 7, just south of Yankee Lake in Brookfield. He was in a stolen pickup truck and attempted to plow through police on foot when officers fired, reports state.

Wild’s mother, Marie Wild of Keefer Road, Girard, described her son as being in a “whirlwind” when she last saw him a few days prior to his death.

Law enforcement agencies from several jurisdictions descended on the Brookfield property after midnight when they received a call from the landowner who said a “dangerous” man was holed up in the cabin on his property.

State investigators from the attorney general’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation and the Ohio State Highway Patrol still are piecing together the details of the last few days of Wild’s life.

The newspaper made public records requests for the preliminary coroner’s report, any video pulled from cruiser dashboard cameras or officer vest cameras, 911 audio and information about whether officers involved in the shooting were placed on leave. BCI spokesman Steven Irwin acknowledge receipt of the requests and forwarded them to his superiors to be processed.

Sgt. Ray Santiago of the patrol’s public affairs unit, confirmed Friday that one trooper is on “critical incident leave” resulting from the Brookfield incident.

Trumbull County Coroner Dr. Lawrence D’Amico said any report about how many times and where on his body Wild was shot plus the preliminary cause of death must come from the state agencies.

MOTHER’S VIEW

“He was a good person,” Marie Wild said about her son.

She speculated that a lifetime battle with mental illness finally came to a head for Fred Wild. For years, he experienced highs and lows in coping, she said.

Her son often turned to alcohol as a deterrent to his internal struggles, using it as “self-medication,” Marie Wild said.

She said she didn’t know if her son intended to die at the hands of police.

“I think he was tired of suffering and going through this,” Marie Wild said. “He just didn’t know how to deal with it anymore.”

She said she believed that part of his emotional state centered on a drunken driving charge Wild picked up last month in Lake County.

Trumbull County records also show Wild faced drunken driving charges in 2020 in Girard Municipal Court, in 2016 in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court, in 2014 in Niles Municipal Court and in 2012 in Warren Municipal Court.

According to Lake County court documents, Wild’s bond was revoked March 14 after he removed a court-ordered, alcohol-monitoring ankle bracelet. A warrant was issued for Wild’s arrest, court documents state. That gained the attention of Liberty police on March 18 when they saw Wild in a vehicle at Pleasant Valley Church.

Using 911 call logs and other information from unnamed sources, the newspaper attempted to piece together the final chapter of Wild’s life.

A relative reportedly alerted police that Wild was parked at the church.

Wild turned up again on March 20 when a 911 call came from a Lordstown business on state Route 45. The management there told dispatchers they wanted Wild removed because he had been a nuisance. The report stated Wild got into an orange Dodge truck with a dog and started driving.

He was next spotted on Highland Avenue SW.

The police chase of Wild’s truck was initiated in Lordstown and continued into Weathersfield at speeds of 85 and 90 mph, the report states. The truck turned toward the southwest side of Warren and Leavittsburg, dropping to 75 mph. The chase eventually led authorities through Champion, Bazetta and Howland before traveling east on the state Routes 5 and 82 bypass toward Howland. At East Market Street, the speeds picked up to 110 mph.

The chase continued through Howland and by 2:40 p.m. Monday, it proceeded east on King Graves Road toward Vienna. After getting on King Graves Road, the speeds remained about 70 mph when the orange truck turned south on railroad tracks near the intersection with Warner Road. The truck got stuck on the Merwin Chase Road overpass about 2:50 p.m., the report states.

Wild got out of the truck, and authorities lost sight of him until early Tuesday morning.

According to several sources who wished to remain anonymous, Wild apparently followed a creek south to an address on Warren Sharon Road in Brookfield, where he next stole another pickup truck, one that had a plow attached to the front.

For about nine hours, Wild was off the police radar until the 911 call that came from the Brookfield property owner with the cabin shortly after 1 a.m. Tuesday.

Reports state Wild had lined up the passenger window of the stolen pickup to the cabin’s window. As he was surrounded by authorities from Brookfield, several other townships, the sheriff’s office and the highway patrol, Wild leaped through both windows into the pickup.

It was at that point he was facing a line of armed law enforcement officers with their weapons drawn. Wild made the fateful decision to drive toward them.

Not heeding orders, according to a news release from BCI and the patrol, Wild was fatally shot. A source stated he was shot multiple times. Who did the shooting has not been released.

Within hours, top BCI agents from as far north as Mentor and as far west as Wadsworth made their way to the Brookfield property, according to 911 reports.

The coroner’s representative was on the scene.

By daybreak, a lone sheriff’s cruiser guarded the drive, letting only investigators in.

1985 SHOOTING

A Sharon, Pa., man — Michael Vitello — was the victim of the last officer-involved shooting involving Brookfield officers, according to township police Chief Dan Faustino. That incident occurred almost 38 years ago, on April 30, 1985, the chief said.

Faustino said he was a part-time township patrol officer at the time while attending a police academy. He said he had to research records from both Hubbard and Brookfield townships to recall the details of the police chase of a motorcylist that ended with a gunshot after a short foot pursuit.

The chief said the pursuit started in Brookfield and continued into Hubbard Township. Reports stated gunfire ended it in a wooded area off U.S. Route 62 (Hubbard Masury Road). A Brookfield officer radioed dispatchers for medical assistance because he had shot the man.

The victim was taken to Sharon General Hospital, where he was treated for a collapsed lung. A priest was called, according to a Brookfield police call log. However, a few hours later, reports show Vitello’s condition improved as he was transferred from intensive care to satisfactory condition.

According to records from the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigations, Tuesday’s shooting of Fred Wild was the second officer-involved shooting in northeastern Ohio so far this year. Irwin said the first occurred on Jan. 22 in Macedonia, Summit County. Irwin said statewide, BCI has been asked to look into 13 officer-involved shootings this year.