Off-duty Cleveland officer held without bail after shooting in Lake County elementary school parking lot

LAKE COUNTY, Ohio (WOIO) – An off-duty Cleveland police officer pleaded guilty Friday morning after being arrested in connection with a single shot fired outside Riverview Elementary School Thursday morning.

Alexander Sinclair, 34, pleaded not guilty to felonious assault, two counts of kidnapping and discharging a firearm at or near a prohibited location.

Painesville Municipal Court also issued protective orders for some of the victims.

Sinclair will be held without bail until his preliminary hearing on Monday.

Students and staff at Riverview Elementary were placed on lockdown for about an hour after a shot was fired in the school’s parking lot.

Lake County sheriff’s deputies were called to the school around 9:10 a.m. Thursday after the school resource officer approached the vehicles involved in the shooting.

Officials say the SRO ordered a man outside a vehicle with a firearm and ordered him to drop the weapon before a struggle with the suspect ensued.

Lake County Sheriff Frank Leonbruno confirmed that Alexander Sinclair was taken into custody.

The Lake County Sheriff's Office has named the suspect in the shooting outside Riverview… — The Lake County Sheriff’s Office has named the suspect in the shooting outside Riverview Elementary School as Cleveland Police Officer Alexander Sinclair(Source: Lake County Sheriff’s Office)

Cleveland Police have confirmed that the suspect in custody is an off-duty police officer.

A post on the Riverside Local Schools Facebook page confirms the domestic dispute started off-site and carried over to the Riverview Elementary parking lot.

Lake County Sheriff Frank Leonbruno took to Facebook to clarify the details.

Leonbruno posted on the Sheriff’s Office account that the incident started off campus and moved onto campus when the suspect’s vehicle collided with another vehicle.

The sheriff’s office confirmed that a single shot was fired through the windshield of the second vehicle.

Riverview Elementary School(Bingel, Julia | (Source: WOIO))

During the dispute, school officials say, a shot was fired near the vehicles involved in the parking lot facing Madison Avenue.

The post emphasized that no shots were fired at the school.

The lockdown was lifted around 10:10 a.m

No students or staff were injured, but Painesville Township firefighters said there were “several EMS transports from the scene” with non-life threatening injuries.

“Our school safety officer who is a deputy with the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, other sheriff’s deputies and area police and fire departments promptly responded to the scene and a person of interest was immediately taken into custody by our school safety officer ”, the school system. posted on Facebook.

“Local law enforcement agencies remained on scene throughout the morning to assist with classroom and building safety checks, direct traffic and help students exit. … Madison Avenue was reopened around noon,” the school system wrote in a Facebook post.

The Auburn Career Center, which is close to Riverview Elementary, was also locked down for a short time.