A woman and three children on their way to a swim outing tragically collided yesterday morning with a police chase. A peaceful, tree-lined Stark County road suddenly turned into the scene of a gunbattle, with witnesses ducking for cover. In the end, two children and one fugitive were dead, and another suspect was apprehended after a search that reached south to Cambridge.
Police say the tragic set of events began with a pickup truck stolen from a gas station in Akron.
Police chased the truck into Stark County, where the driver ran a stop sign and slammed into a minivan carrying the Marlboro Township family. A gunbattle ensued involving police, the man they were chasing and his girlfriend, who showed up in a separate stolen car. Also dead is the driver of the stolen truck, William Caton of Akron, a fugitive wanted on multiple warrants, including weapons violations. Alexandra Ellesin, the mother of the three boys, who was driving the minivan, was treated at Aultman Hospital in Canton and released. None of the police or civilians at the scene was injured.