'All he wanted was some General Tso’s chicken'

Shooter told hostages he would kill them, videotape it and put it on Facebook - to send a message
Cary Ashby
Nov 1, 2013

“It’s just a sad day.”

That’s what Willard City Manager Brian Humphress called the aftermath of a three-hour standoff Wednesday at Family Dollar, 403 W. Walton St., in the city that resulted in the death of the gunman and one of his hostages.

“Our prayers and thoughts go out to the family of the victims and the people involved,” Humphress said Thursday. “It’s not something you expect to happen in a small town, but it can happen anywhere.”

The woman who was shot in the head has been identified as Kimberly Kelley, of New Washington. Willard Police Chief Mark Holden said he believes the victim is about 47 years old.

“I know she had three children. She was married,” he said Thursday.

An ambulance transported Kelley from the scene to Mercy Willard Hospital. A medical helicopter later flew her to another medical facility. Humphress said the Lucas County Coroner’s Office informed him of the victim’s death just after 11 p.m. Wednesday. Her time of death is unknown.

Shawn Schuett, 19, of rural Willard, was the gunman who shot Kelley before shooting himself at the end of the standoff.

“He originally was from Mansfield. He was living on Egypt Road,” Humphress said.

Holden said Schuett has family in Shelby and Willard.

A man who identified himself as Gary Schuett came to the police station about 10:45 a.m. Thursday. Before being interviewed by the chief, Schuett declined to be interviewed by a reporter and wouldn’t provide his relationship to Shawn Schuett.

“That’s the adopted father,” Holden said later.

The chief said police don’t have any motive, but said detectives have ruled out robbery. He also said the incident doesn’t appear to be drug-related and according to the surviving hostage, may be a random incident.

“With ruling out robbery, we don’t know what the circumstances are. We don’t want to speculate,” Holden said.

Police have determined Schuett was armed with a .22-caliber semi automatic Mossberg rifle, which he apparently bought at a federal fire license office.

“We believe it was very, very recently,” Holden said. “With a rifle, you don’t need to have a permit. … The ATF will do a trace.”

Jessica Click, who lived with Schuett, told the Reflector she dropped him off at Ace Hardware about 3:50 p.m. Wednesday. Ace shares the same shopping plaza as Family Dollar. Police have said Schuett entered Family Dollar about 5 p.m. with the rifle and barricaded himself inside with two women.

“The hostages were kept in the back of the store, between the aisles, so we couldn’t see them,” Holden said.

By 6 p.m., the city had closed down U.S. 224. The road was re-opened about 9:20.

(NOTE - Pictures of the hostage standoff are posted HERE.)

Agencies from across the state joined the local police to assist, including the Norwalk, Mansfield and Ontario police departments, the state Highway Patrol and Huron County Sheriff’s Office. Also at the scene were Willard Fire & Rescue, the Plymouth Volunteer Fire Department and Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation.

Two tactical teams surrounded the store — one in the front and the other in the back.

“Our negotiator told him, ‘You’re only looking at a robbery charge if you come out right now,’” Holden said. “He asked for nothing. All he wanted was some General Tso’s chicken.”

Police first were notified by a woman whom Schuett reportedly forced at gunpoint, with the rifle pointed to her chest, to drive him to Family Dollar, Holden said. Several emergency calls about Schuett came into the dispatch center following the woman’s cry for help.

Holden said Schuett barricaded the entrance with displays, shelves and shopping carts.

At one point, Schuett demanded to see his mother. Holden said the woman came to the scene and even after officers told her Schuett likely would shoot her, she still wanted to go inside, but police wouldn’t permit her to do so.

“I didn’t want to give him a third hostage,” Holden said. “He told her he was going to kill her. They were estranged at one point.”

Initially there was a third hostage, but Schuett released her.

“She somehow talked him into letting her go. He told her he wanted to make a statement,” Holden said.

JoAnn Sarver told the Tiffin Advertiser-Tribune she was shopping at Family Dollar around 5 p.m. when a man wearing camouflage and several layers of clothing entered the store and ordered a female worker to barricade the doors.

Sarver, who works in Willard and often shops at Family Dollar, said she tried to remain calm and continued to talk to a woman behind the cash register as the door was being barricaded.

The man, who was holding what looked like a rifle, told the three women he was going to kill them, Sarver said. He even held the gun to them, she told the paper.

Sarver said to convince the man to let her go, she told him she didn’t have much money and that she would miss work.

The man, however, did not want money, she said. He told the women he wanted to send a message and that he would kill them, videotape it and put it on Facebook. Sarver said he took one of the women’s phones to use Facebook.

She said the man allowed her to keep her phone. While in the store, she called 911 numerous times, she told the paper. Unable to describe the situation to the dispatcher in front of the man, Sarver said she tried to find ways to get the dispatcher to send help, including telling the dispatcher that there were problems with her vehicle at Family Dollar. The dispatcher, who thought Sarver was trying to prank-call the police department, told her that she would be arrested if she kept calling, Sarver told the paper. Unable to get help from the police department, Sarver then called her ex-husband and tried the same tactics. He caught on and contacted police, she said.

“I was scared, I just wanted to get the cops there,” Sarver said.

Sarver said after police arrived, the man told her that she was going to deliver his message. He then allowed her to leave the store.

Sarver, who was uninjured, said she did not hear the man’s message.

After Schuett shot the victim and then himself, the other hostage ran out the back door of the store and notified police shots had been fired.

The patrol’s special response team then blew out the front windows. Officers entered the store to find the suspect deceased and Kelley lying on the floor with the gunshot wound.

During the three-hour ordeal, family members and townspeople gathered, but were kept far away from the scene. Firefighters and police alike warned the citizens they were in “the line of fire” and must keep back.

One of Schuett’s family members wept after learning the young man shot Kelley and then took his own life.

“He really was a nice boy. He believed in God, but he had stopped taking his medication,” said Serena Shepherd, a family member of another woman who was looking after Schuett for the last year.

Shepherd said Schuett had been living in various homes throughout his youth before ending up at a residence on Egypt Road, just outside Willard. He started living there about a year ago.

Willard police said they had no prior run-ins with Schuett and didn’t know what triggered the violence that shook the normally quiet city.

“We’re without a motive. We’re without a lot of crucial information,” Holden said. “I’ve never had a hostage situation like this in 20 years.”

The chief estimated it might take as much as three weeks to complete the investigation.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Reflector correspondent Heather Chapin-Fowler and managing editor Joe Centers contributed to this story.



why do you hear so much laughing and horsing around in the back ground?

so sick of stup...

yea i wondered the same thing...i think half the people there thought it was a show..lots of wanna be thugs and even a few drunks..it was pathetic


uptil I looked at the check which had said $6721, I be certain that my neighbour woz truley erning money part time on their apple labtop.. there sisters roommate started doing this for under a year and just now paid the morgage on their home and purchased a great new Mercedes. Look At This http://ow.ly/qBwvs

Yall Make Me Sick

Because the reporter is standing on a whole different other street then where the incident took place. He's at an apartment complex so all the noise is prolly people from the complex & other people who was told to move.


It could happen anywhere,but it didn't it happened in Willard where a kid shot his mother and the carry out get robbed at gun point.People refer to Willard as the heroin capital maybe unjustly? A tragic trend is developing.How many more time are we going to see this little town on Fox News? How many more press conferences?


He didn't shoot his mother. Reread the article.


They are referring to another incident...the punk that shot his Mother in the back last year that had the city of Willard on lockdown. Re-read his comment ;)


I read it several times. It didn't make sense til you explained what he was saying. I wouldn't have ever put two and two together. Maybe they should have explained it better because someone not knowing about the past incident wouldn't understand what they were talking about. They made it sound like Shawn shot his mother.

Yall Make Me Sick

Actually he (Shawn) did threaten to shoot his adoptive mother the same day! Here is the video on that. http://www.newsnet5.com/dpp/news...


Yes I know. I said he didn't shoot his mother. Ugh


Ok wait: There were HOW many women in the store? 3? 2? How many passed away? 1? So two women were able to escape and are unharmed? This story is so confusing...First it says 1 woman drove him to the store and dropped him off. He went inside with TWO women. Later he asked for his mother to come inside but the police didn't want to give him THREE hostages so they said no. Then it says "initially there was a third hostage, but Schuett released her." (she was inside with him at some point) Ok Folks: According to this story there was: 1) The Driver who got him there (dropped him off-never went inside store 2) The customer from Tiffin who WAS inside but who later was able to get out 3) The poor clerk who later got shot and who tried to save herself by running out the back door and later passed away 4) A second clerk (???) Is this lady ok? Did she get away? Who is this person? ====This story is screwed up====Help!


Not shocking the Norwalk reflector can't get a story straight. I will explain. Click dropped Shawn off at Ace Hardware. Ace and family dollar are in same plaza. He took a driver hostage, so he either took the driver hostage right there and made her drive him around between the time he left ace (he arrived at ace about 3:50 and entered family dollar at 5) and time he entered family dollar OR he left ace and somehow took her hostage at another location. The driver hostage took him to family dollar. Shawn let her go as he entered family dollar. Inside family dollar were 3 women. 1) cashier Kim Kelley, 2) another employee of family dollar, and 3) JoAnn Sarver. JoAnn talked him into letting her go, which he let her go so she could relay his message to the police. Shawn wanted his mother there and she wanted to go inside but police wouldn't allow her to because he would then have 3 hostages (he already had let the driver and customer JoAnn go). After 3 hours, Shawn shot Kim Kelley then himself and the other employee ran out the back door. Hope that makes more sense. Here is a better story.... http://fox8.com/2013/10/31/hosta...


Wow! Ok that helps alot!!! So ---what no one knows here is:
1) Who was the second Family Dollar Store employee???
2) Was she able to live?? Is she ok? What happened to her???
There seems to have been a LOT of people who had direct contact with this kid: 1) "Click" (whoever that is) 2) The un-named hostage car driver 3) JoAnn from Tiffin 4) Poor Kim and 5) mystery store clerk ==is there anyone else who was involved in this situation? Why don't we know the names/relationships of these other people? And am I understanding this correctly now? Thanks so much for helping me (us) understand! :-) and No, actually we don't have too much time on our hands lol...
It's important to get FACTS in a major situation like this STRAIGHT. If you don't then you're just discussing a bunch of mumbo jumbo that's not even true and thats ignorant.We've experienced enough ignorance in this situation as it is I think lol thank you


1) second family dollar victim's name hasn't been given yet as far as I have read. 2) she was uninjured physically.

1. Click was someone Shawn lived with. 2. Don't know who the hostage driver was. I wondered the same thing. And you have everyone that had contact with him during this even from what I have read. JoAnn was a customer in family dollar. You are welcome.

Yall Make Me Sick

No actually she JoAnn was making calls to 911 and they thought she was pranking them. She told Shawn she was going to be late for work & get fired IF he didn't let her go. There was 1 customer & 2 employees & him as he was making them block the doors off he shot the Assistant manager Kim & the 1st employee (Yes I do know her name also but it's not my place to put it out as she is dealing with this situation in her own way) ran out the back door & the employee that ran out told them he had shot the other lady then turned the gun on himself.



Some one needs fired!

Yall Make Me Sick



I agree with you Presto. This is a very confusing story. First it says Click took him to the plaza that includes the dollar store and then it says that police were first notified by a woman who was held at gunpoint and forced to drive to the dollar store. Was Click an accomplice or was she the one held at gunpoint or did she just drop him off earlier and then he hijacked another car with a woman inside to drive to the dollar store where he was just dropped off an hour and ten minutes before?


See my response to Presto's post......


You people have way to much time on your hands

free and clean 2 yrs

Click was not a hostage. He lived with her and asked for a ride so he can get food and other things he needed for the house because he doesnt drive. she just dropped him off on her way to school. Then he did all this.

swiss family

my thoughts and prayers go out to all of the families who were affected by this tragic event. To me, it is a wake up call to the reality of how serious mental health conditions can be, and why we as a society need to stop treating anyone who needs help, as an outcast, which m, in the long run, probably keeps them from seeking the help that they need..I also want to thank and commend all of our "safety" forces including all of the Police Ambulance workers, and all of the rest , for bravely facing the unknown chaos, that this situation played out as, and taking a front row stand in doing all they can to protect everyone , including the public, and reporters, and even the shooter, and his terrified hostages....God Bless you all


LOL I have one more question:
What is this supposed to mean? "which he apparently bought at a federal fire license office."
So, the kid bought the rifle 1) At Ace? or 2) At a federal fire license office?
WTH is a federal fire license office? I know nothing about guns obviously Thanks!


1) how I am understanding he purchased the rifle at Ace, however I didn't know Ace sold fire arms. 2) federal fire license is just a license the business is required to have in order to sell a firearm.


He was dropped off at Ace hardware which is a FFL (Federal Firearms Licensed) dealer. He purchased the rifle at Ace hardware. He then went into the Family Dollar after taking someone who just got out of their car and was going into Family Dollar.



Everyone is fam...

If he purchased the weapon a couple days prior to the incident and Click wasn't taken hostage for a ride to town, how did this kid discreetly get out of the vehicle with a 22 and the driver not know? I'm confused, or maybe coffee didn't do it's job. Regardless of the "hows" and "whys" my heart felt sympathies go out to all of the victims and their families.


From what I read, Shawn had Jessica Click whom he lived with take him to ace. She dropped him off and she left. He didn't hold her hostage. This article is very confusing

Everyone is fam...

That's how I took it. So I'm wondering how she didn't notice the rifle. Not trying to assign blame...it's just not adding up.


He purchased the gun minutes before this happened at the Ace hardware store right next to Family Dollar.