Police records: Automatic gun used to kill boy, 6, in murder/suicide

The shootings that resulted in the deaths of two Miami Twp. residents and a third person being critically-wounded in a murder/suicide prompted eight calls to dispatchers in fewer than 20 minutes, police said.

The last four callers late Friday morning said they were watching the suicide of Jovonie L. McClendon Jr., on Facebook Live after the 33-year-old Army veteran told authorities he had just killed his girlfriend and her son, according to Miami Twp. Police Chief Ron Hess.

Police entered the apartment on Sagebrook Drive off Spring Valley Road at 11:55 a.m. to find McClendon and 6-year-old Carter Clemons dead, and Di’eshia Patterson, 27, wounded, Hess said.

An automatic handgun was used in the shooting, according to police records obtained by this news organization on Tuesday through a public records request.

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Those records provided few other new details about the shootings.

But Hess said Friday police have never had any issues with McClendon, a United States Postal Service employee who worked in Washington Twp.

“We have no history of any of the parties involved,” he said. “We have no history of any calls to that address. When we arrived at the scene, we did not hear any shots.”

Hess described the issue “as tragic for the families. It’s tragic for the first responders. It’s tragic for the residents of the apartment complex.”

Both deaths were from gunshot wounds to the head with McClendon’s being self-inflicted, according to the Montgomery County Coroner’s Office. On Tuesday, Patterson remained in critical condition Kettering Medical Center, authorities said.

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The postal service, which employed McClendon as a carrier since August 2017, issued the following statement Tuesday:

“We express our deepest sympathies to the families involved. Employee Assistance is being offered to our employees at that office. The United States Postal Inspection Service is investigating and coordinating with local authorities.”

Funeral services stemming from the shooting have not been set.

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Hess said Montgomery County Regional Dispatch “did a fantastic job” of fielding the calls and communicating information with police, who were assisted by the sheriff’s office and the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation.

The initial call, at 11:32 a.m., is believed to have been made by McClendon. Hess said the caller – identifying himself as an Army veteran - said “he had just killed his girlfriend and her son and he was going to kill himself.”

Other calls were made by family and friends who said relayed similar information, Hess said.

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