Ex-C. Falls student dies in shootout

A former Columbia Falls High School student was killed in a shootout with police near Cleveland last week.

Bradley Paul Babbitt, 18, died May 3 when he was shot twice by SWAT members in Lakewood, Ohio.

A three-hour afternoon standoff between Babbitt and police in the Cleveland suburb caused schools to lock down and neighbors to sequester themselves in their basements, according to news stories by reporter Damian Guevara of the (Cleveland) Plain Dealer.

Babbitt fired from the window of his home onto police below, the story said.

Guevara reported that Babbitt's aunt called police to the house because Babbitt was behaving violently and making threats.

"Babbitt sprayed bullets at police when they arrived, putting three rounds into a Lakewood police vehicle. He also exchanged shots with one officer before a SWAT team arrived," the newspaper reported.

Babbitt repeatedly broke contact with police negotiators but called a friend, Neal Kennedy, 19, during the incident.

Kennedy told the Cleveland newspaper that Babbitt "kept saying he didn't want to go back to jail. He said, 'They're not going to take me, stupid pigs.'"

He was shot in the head and chest by officers.

The day before the shooting, Babbitt was found guilty of attempted petty theft, according to the newspaper. Last year, he was taken to a hospital for psychiatric treatment, police told Guevara.

Babbitt was briefly a student at Columbia Falls High School in 2004, attending for less than a year, according to principal Terri Burghardt. School district policy prohibits her from saying whether Babbitt was expelled from the school.

Babbitt and his family also had lived in Germany, Egypt, Texas, Kentucky and Tennessee.

He is survived by his parents, Robert and Chris Babbitt, of Columbia Falls and Steve and Denise Matthews of Avon Lake, Ohio, and three brothers and two sisters.

Guevara said police are conducting a routine investigation into whether the use of force was justified.