Steubenville Hostage Crisis Of 1996

Steubenville, Ohio, November 18, 1996

A hostage situation at a Kroger Co. supermarket in Steubenville, Ohio, ended Monday with a gunman being felled by a police sharpshooter who was watching him from outside the store. A member of a police SWAT team shot the gunman once, striking him in his neck.

The gunman was identified as Steven Burch, 30, of Steubenville. Burch was taken to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center in critical condition. The ordeal lasted approximately 2 hours. Police said Burch entered the store to rob it at 1:04 p.m. Monday, but something went wrong. Burch ordered the customers and employees to get down on the floor, and took one woman hostage. Witnesses and Steubenville police said Burch began complaining of his treatment by area mental health professionals, and at one point fired several shots with a .357-caliber Magnum. No one was hurt in the shooting. 'Upon arrival, we entered the store and observed (Burch) halfway down a shopping aisle holding a revolver to the head of a female hostage,' the police report said. 'The hammer was cocked on the gun. '(Mental health officials) informed the office that this subject had called the help line, saying he had a gun and would use it to commit suicide or have the police kill him.' During the negotiations, Burch said he wanted to speak with a worker at the Jefferson County Behavioral Health Department. She arrived and spoke with Burch, while he continued to hold the gun to the hostage's head. Burch was felled by a expert marksman from the Mingo Junction Police Department, identified as Lt. Bill Powers. Powers had climbed up on a ladder behind some latticework and was able to shoot Burch before he could react.