19-year-old arrested in Forest Park SWAT standoff had stolen gun, police say

FOREST PARK, Ohio (WXIX) – A 19-year-old man was found with a stolen gun when police took him into custody at the end of a SWAT standoff that shut down part of a Forest Park road over the weekend.

Officers responded to a home in the 800 block of West Kemper Road around 9:15 pm Saturday night to investigate a person outside in the driveway waving a gun around, an incident report shows.

Police were met by Jerome Thomas’s relatives who identified him as the person waving the gun around. He had retreated to the basement at that point, after arguing with his family and had a “long gun with a curved magazine,” according to the report.

Officers determined Thomas had two open felony warrants for theft and escape. They made several announcements that Thomas was under arrest and needed to come out.

“Thomas refused and was texting family members that he was not there but knew the police were,” the incident report reads. “Officers spent over an hour advising Thomas to come out and surrender to which he refused. “Due to Thomas being in possession of a firearm, the Hamilton County SWAT team responded.”

That’s when police blocked off half a mile of West Kemper Road for safety reasons.

After several hours, the SWAT team located Thomas hiding under a pile of clothes, according to the police report.

Officers recovered the gun, a Glock .45 that they determined was reported stolen out of a Forest Park home on Fairborn Road the morning of Sept. 10.

Police are holding onto the gun as evidence and it will be tested to check to see if it was used in other crimes, according to Lt. Adam Pape.

Thomas was booked into the Hamilton County Justice Center at 4 on Sunday on charges of inducing panic, resisting arrest, having weapons under disability and receiving stolen property.

He was scheduled to appear in court Monday morning on those charges along with the outstanding felony charges: theft from Ulta Beauty in 2022 and escape for leaving the University of Cincinnati Medical Center in 2023, court records show.

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