Police: 21st Street shooter accidentally killed himself chasing abuse victim

NEWARK - For the second time in less than three months, a domestic violence situation turned into public gunfire – this time on a busy Newark street in the middle of a Monday morning.

Newark Police Chief Barry Connell said the incident on Monday started around 10:45 a.m. when Phillip L. Parker II, 29, of Marion, located 26-year-old Sarah E. Bennett, of Newark, his estranged girlfriend in the Wal-Mart parking lot on the 1300 block of North 21st Street.

Parker is believed to have pursued Bennett, who was in a white Chrysler, southbound on North 21st Street. Bennett stopped her vehicle and put it in reverse, at which point Parker, who was in a silver Audi, continued to pursue her while she was driving in reverse.

Bennett and Parker’s vehicle collided with other vehicles and possibly the curb, Connell said.

At that point, Parker is believed to have shot himself accidentally while inside his own vehicle. Parker exited his vehicle and continued to shoot at Bennett as she fled the area, striking her once.

Parker then collapsed near the corner of Log Pond Drive and North 21st Street, where bystanders began performing CPR until medics arrived. Connell said Parker was pronounced deceased at the scene.

Bennett was taken to Licking Memorial Hospital for treatment of her injuries. A child that was in her vehicle was also examined but was not physically injured.

Dana Jack, of Newark, said he was sitting at a red light at the intersection of Log Pond Drive and North 21st Street when he saw two vehicles, a silver Audi and a white vehicle, come "flying" down the street in the area of the 21st Street McDonald's.

"It looked like they were trying to run each other off the road," he said. "The tires were squealing and everything."

Jack said he thought it was just a couple drivers being unsafe but he heard the vehicles coming back his direction and then heard the sound of collisions.

Parker exited his vehicle, Jack said, with a gun drawn and began chasing Bennett, who was running from the white vehicle down Log Pond Drive.

"She ran screaming 'Don't shoot me, don't shoot me,'" Jack said. "She was just screaming at the top of her lungs."

The man fired several shots from a "shooter stance," Jack said, while the woman ran into the Sprint store across the street from Bob Evans.

Jack said he turned around and did not see the man, got out of his vehicle and then saw the man lying on the ground with what appeared to be blood on his back.

He said he saw people doing CPR and the man had a tattoo on his chest that read "Love is Pain."

Six 911 calls were placed from the scene, with the first one coming at 10:45 a.m., believed to be by Bennett.

On the 911 call, a woman can be heard yelling “Leave me alone” and then “Help! This guy’s going to shoot me.” Dispatchers tried to get a location from the caller, who can be heard running. Three gunshots are also heard on the call.

Within two minutes, five other calls had been placed to 911 by witnesses and bystanders.

It was not the first time Bennett had called police or emergency personnel with regard to Parker.

More:21st Street shooting suspect has history of violence, prison time

More:Police: 21st Street shooter accidentally killed himself chasing abuse victim

On June 28, Bennett had called after an alleged incident of domestic violence at her home in Newark. A police report indicated Parker, who is listed as living at the same address as Bennett, caused physical harm to her and photographs from the incident show what appear to be an injured lip and possibly blackened eyes, as well as bruises on her arm.

Connell said Parker was arrested for that incident and charged with disorderly conduct. That case was still pending in Licking County Municipal Court at the time of his death.

On Sunday, Connell said Bennett had called police again from a domestic violence shelter in Newark to report an incident that had taken place Friday evening.

Connell said Bennett reported she had been held at gunpoint by Parker and he threatened to kill her and her family. Police had been actively searching for Parker, seeking help from the Adult Parole Authority, where Parker was on active parole supervision, and Marion Police.

Officers had also taken charges against Parker to the Licking County Prosecutor’s Office on Monday morning with regard to the Friday incident.

Connell said in the wake of the incident Monday morning and in the aftermath of the domestic violence related shooting in Kirkersville that left three people, including Kirkersville Police Chief Steven Eric DiSario, dead, he did not know that there was more his department could do.

More:Kirkersville shooting takes lives of chief, nurse, aide

“I don’t know that we could do any more than we are doing,” he said. “We have a good response with our officers. They do a very thorough job … They always make sure the cases are complete and submitted for charges.”

Police have said the situation never rose to the level of an "active shooter" and assured the public the incident is under control.

North 21st Street reopened after police closed it for hours to continue their investigation of the scene. The road was closed between Pierson Drive and Deo Drive.