MANSFIELD — Mansfield Police Chief Ken Coontz sends his condolences to the relatives and friends of those involved in Wednesday night’s homicide.
“It’s certainly a tragedy when an infant loses a loving mother, especially when it’s to violence,” Coontz said during a press conference Thursday afternoon.
Kaitlyn Carroll-Peak, 22, was shot by Dakota M. Steagall, 20, outside the Brookwood Way Apartments at 297 N. Brookwood Way Wednesday night. Coontz said the case was domestic violence-related.
The Mansfield PD received a call around 7:35 p.m. that shots had been fired in the area of Brookwood Way North. Upon arrival, officers discovered Carroll-Peak lying on the ground with apparent gunshot wounds. Once the medical personnel arrived, she was pronounced dead.
Police learned that the woman had an argument with Steagall, who fled in Carroll-Peak’s car. Sometime after that, authorities learned that there was a small child in the vehicle, which was confirmed to be Carroll-Peak’s 7-week-old daughter. The infant’s father is not believed to be Steagall, according to Coontz.
Authorities are still investigating the exact relationship status between Carroll-Peak and Steagall, though Coontz said that they appeared to have been an off-and-on-again couple.
When authorities learned that Steagall had fled with Carroll-Peak’s child, they initiated the Amber Alert process and learned that the suspect had some relatives in Ashland County and might be headed that direction.
“From what we can tell, he left Mansfield, stole her vehicle with the child in it, and drove to Ashland, Ohio where he contacted some of his family members then dropped the child off with a family member,” Coontz said. “The Peak family was instrumental in helping us identify where the child was at.”
It was ultimately the Ashland PD that helped secure the child.
Ashland PD Capt. David Lay said, “The Ashland Police Division’s involvement in the case was minimal. We secured the child and brought it to the Ashland Police Division and kept it safe until we could release the child into the custody and care of the Richland County Children Services Department.”
According to Coontz, the child is now under the care of the Peak family.
Brian Fitzgibbon with the United States Marshal Service in Cleveland recognized the many agencies that were involved in helping bring resolution to the case.
“Every one of the officers assigned to our unit did not hesitate to respond to this case once they heard that an infant child was possibly in danger,” he said.
The U.S. Marshals spotted Steagall on U.S. 250 East at a local gas station. They began their pursuit of Steagall, reaching speeds up to 100 miles an hour. They continued east on U.S. 250 toward Wooster.
The Wooster Police Department deployed spike strips to help slow the vehicle down.
The chase ended in Wooster on the exit ramp from U.S. 30 to Ohio 3 about 1:30 a.m., when Steagall’s car stopped.
Fitzgibbon said the driver was unresponsive, though at the time they hadn’t realized that he had shot himself.
The Ashland County Sheriff’s Office’s bomb unit and Mansfield’s SWAT team cleared the vehicle and determined that Steagall was dead and that there weren’t any other individuals in the car with him.
Coontz recognized the many agencies that were involved, noting, “Certainly when you span over three counties, trying to find resolution to a case like this is extremely difficult.”
There are some police reports between Carroll-Peak and Steagall, according to Coontz. About a year ago, Steagall was involved in a standoff situation with the police that ended peacefully.
Coontz addressed the issue of domestic violence, urging everyone to remember that it does exist.
“Domestic violence is a horrible situation and something that we all have to take very seriously,” Coontz said.
