CINCINNATI — A 29-year-old man accused of killing a woman, stealing a car and setting his own home on fire Tuesday afternoon died of his injuries Wednesday, Hamilton County Sheriff Charmaine McGuffey announced in a news conference.
McGuffey said the suspect, Bradley Farmer, doused himself in gasoline before lighting the fire. Although he survived long enough to be hospitalized, the wounds claimed his life Wednesday.
Deputies believe that Farmer shot and killed Ire Johnson, a 30-year-old Sycamore Township woman, less than half an hour before his apparent self-immolation on Tuesday afternoon.
McGuffey’s office was summoned to the scene of the shooting shortly before 4 p.m. that day. They discovered Johnson’s body outside her Montgomery Avenue home — a suspect appeared to have broken in via the back door, chased her out the front and fatally shot her as she fled.
"He proceeded to run to his vehicle, which he parked nearby," said McGuffey. "He dropped the keys to his vehicle. So, at some point, he discovered he couldn't drive his vehicle. He began to run."
At 4:07, deputies received word of another crime nearby: A man matching the shooting suspect’s description had stolen a van at gunpoint on Euclid Road.
The woman whose van was stolen said Farmer ran up to her while she and her kids were in the front yard, claiming to have been robbed. She said he then held her at gunpoint and demanded her keys.
Law enforcement followed the vehicle to a house on Home Street, where Farmer parked, covered himself in gasoline and set the building on fire.
"I have no idea why he did what he did," said McGuffey on the day of the incident. "But we'll certainly find out."
