Staff Writer
From staff reports
Tipton — A Tipton County man allegedly fired a shotgun at a neighboring house late Monday before committing suicide, Howard County Sheriff Marty Talbert reported.
The Howard County Sheriff SWAT team was called just before 10 p.m. to the 6600 block of North U.S. 31 at the request of the Tipton County Sheriff, Talbert said.
Investigators say Ronald L. Rhodes, 62, who lived in the house officers responded to, was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound just after 4:30 a.m. Tuesday.
Rhodes is believed to have fired three shots from his house at the neighboring house to the south on Monday evening. The shotgun blasts struck windows and damaged one room of the house, Talbert said.
No one was injured by the gunfire.
Tipton County EMA and Howard County Sheriff deputies kept U.S. 31 closed at the Tipton County line and at 600 South for most of the evening and routed traffic onto county roads.
Talbert said deputies and negotiators were unable to establish contact with Rhodes.
SWAT team members lobbed tear gas canisters into the residence and entered the duplex to find Rhodes dead inside a bedroom, he said.
Howard County Major Steve Rogers said no shots were fired by police during the standoff.
Rhodes lived alone in the south half of the duplex home. Authorities are not certain what precipitated the gun fire.
The Kokomo Police Department SWAT Team, Howard and Tipton County Emergency Management Agencies, Indiana State Police and the Tipton County Coroners Office also assisted at the scene.
The case remains under investigation by the Tipton County Sheriff Department.
