SPRINGFIELD — What began as an investigation into shots fired at Enon Beach on New Year’s Day, ended with one Clark County sheriff’s deputy and the suspected shooter dead, plus a German Twp. patrolman hospitalized from being shot by the suspect.

Residents called authorities after a bullet came through a window at their Enon Beach home, Clark County Sheriff Gene Kelly said. Deputy Suzanne Waughtel Hopper, 40, was taking photographs of footprints when investigators say a man in a nearby silver trailer emerged with a shotgun and fired, Kelly said.

The man believed to have killed Hopper, Michael L. Ferryman, 53, was found dead in his trailer after a gun battle that ensued when he reportedly fired on police.

Friends and family of Hopper, a mother of two, remember her as a person who clung to her optimism and doled it out to those in need.

“We’re strong in our faith,” said Charles Bauer, Hopper’s father. “We think that things happen for a purpose. I think we’ll find that this didn’t happen in vain.”

Deputy Andrew Biggert, a Clark County deputy who worked with Hopper, said, “She tried to make positives out of negatives as much as she could.”

Biggert said Hopper’s determination to serve others was apparent in her work.

“She was driven; she wanted to get the call taken care of,” he said. “She would go above and beyond the investigation.”

German Twp. Officer Jeremy Blum, 32, also was shot during the gunfight and was taken to Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton where he was listed in fair condition Sunday.

Chief William Dickerson, German Twp. Police Department, said Blum was recovering Sunday and in good spirits.