Police: Suspect is a former Columbus, Ohio, cop

The highlighted SUV was stolen by the suspect, a former Columbus, Ohio, police officer who lost his job three weeks ago.
The highlighted SUV was stolen by the suspect, a former Columbus, Ohio, police officer who lost his job three weeks ago. 

ASHLAND, Ohio (CNN) -- An interstate highway standoff involving a recently fired police officer accused of killing his wife ended Friday when the man was shot and wounded as he tried to escape into a wooded area.

An Ohio State Highway Patrol spokesman said he was unsure whether police shot the man. Denise Klier, a nursing supervisor at Ashland Samaritan Hospital, said that the suspect was brought to the hospital, but she had no other information.

Richland County dispatcher Garnet Spears identified the suspect as Hernando "Cliff" Harton, 39, a Columbus police officer who lost his job three weeks ago. The 90-minute standoff followed a 50-mile chase in which the suspect drove a stolen sheriff's SUV.

Spears said that Harton apparently shot and killed his wife Thursday evening after being served with divorce papers.

"He called his ex-wife, who lives in California, and told her," Spears said. "Apparently (the ex-wife and Harton) have two teenage children, and he asked her to take care of his three younger children and he told her what he'd done."

Spears said that Harton was on his way to his parents' home in Youngstown with his three young children when Morrow County Sheriff's deputies caught up with him at a gas station.

"Shots were fired, and he stole one of their vehicles, an SUV," leaving the three children behind, Spears said

'Just a total shock'

Spears said that Harton was discharged from the Columbus Police Department about three weeks ago.

A source in the Columbus Police Department, who asked to remain anonymous, said that Harton had been a Columbus officer for more than eight years before he was discharged in early July following an investigation into shooting in which he was involved.

"I don't know what the ruling was, but the department terminated him," the source said. "We're very, very sad. He was a nice guy, always cheerful no matter what was going on. It's just a total shock."

Ohio State Highway Patrol Sgt. Robert Fulmer said an officer threw down road spikes at the Richland-Ashland county line, about 50 miles from where the man stole the SUV. Harton pulled into a rest area along a rural stretch of Interstate 71, where the standoff began, he said.

Police closed the northbound lanes of I-71 between Mansfield and Ashland, jamming traffic for miles.