Investigation: Shooter had 100 pounds of explosives

While thousands across the region came out to mourn and honor the late Lorain police Officer Phillip Wagner on Friday, investigators continued working to determine the circumstances of his death. Wagner, 35, was killed after Michael Parker of Lorain opened fire on him and fellow officer Peter Gale as they sat in their cruisers on River Bend Drive eating lunch on Wednesday. Wagner was struck in the head and Gale was hit in the hand. Officer Brent Payne was also wounded by Parker when he arrived to assist. Parker, 28, was killed in the ensuing gunfight. The shooting investigation is being led by the Elyria Police Department. Lorain cannot investigate the event itself because its officers are involved. Elyria Police Chief James Welsh told The Chronicle on Friday that his department and the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation had completed processing the scene of the shooting, but he was not yet able to confirm details about the amount or type of weapons and explosives Parker had. "Investigators continue to sort through evidence and information to determine why this tragedy occurred," Welsh said. "We are still in the initial stages, and detectives are working extremely long hours to get answers. Given the importance of this investigation, if we have to choose between doing this right and doing this fast, we will choose accuracy over speed." Parker had multiple weapons and at least one rifle during the shooting. Explosives, which were found in his car, were destroyed at the scene. During a Lorain County commissioners meeting on Friday, Lorain County Sheriff Jack Hall, whose office is assisting in the investigation, provided some details about the explosives found in Parker's car. Hall said that Parker had two 50-pound bombs made from Tannerite — a type of binary or two-part explosive used in target shooting — in the trunk of his car. "One shot into any of those — we don't know what was the mindset, I would only be speculating as far as the suspect that was involved in that case. We had to dismantle both of those 50-pound Tannerite devices," Hall said. The recommended safe distance for the explosion of a half-pound of Tannerite is 25 yards, Hall said. This was 100 pounds. "People felt those detonations all the way to Avon Lake," Hall said. Autopsies of both Wagner and Parker were carried out this week. The Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner's Office completed an autopsy on Wagner on Friday and released his remains to his family. His body was brought back to North Ridgeville, where he lived with his wife and three children, in a motorcade featuring hundreds of local law enforcement officers. Preliminary findings of Wagner's autopsy were not immediately available. Lorain County Coroner Dr. Frank Miller said his autopsy on Parker revealed the shooter's cause of death was multiple gunshot wounds. The manner of death was homicide, a term that means death at the hands of another person. Police gunfire left "about a dozen" gunshot and shrapnel wounds in Parker's body, Miller said Friday. All of the gunshot wounds appear to have come from police rifles, he said, and Parker did not have any self-inflicted wounds, gunshot or otherwise. Miller said he was still parsing out how many of Parker's wounds were actual gunshot wounds, and how many were caused by shrapnel. Parker was next to his car as it was hit by bullets, causing metal and glass to break and strike him. "I'm still working them out because there's a lot of debris from shooting through the car," Miller said. "Between shrapnel and gunshots there are about a dozen" wounds. Miller said he has "no idea" how many responding police officers' shots hit Parker. The Elyria police investigation into the shooting will determine that, he said. Results of toxicology tests from Parker's autopsy will take at least two weeks, Miller said. He said he found no other injuries or disease in the gunman's body. Parker "was otherwise a healthy 28-year-old," Miller said. Hall said on Friday the crime scene near the Black River was "horrific." By that morning, River Bend Drive and the Colorado Avenue Industrial Park had reopened to the public. The area is vacant, save for some walking paths and a dead-end roadway. There were no memorials or signs of the incident. Contact Owen MacMillan at (440) 329-7123 or omacmillan@chroniclet.com. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com. Contact Carissa Woytach at (440) 329-7245 or cwoytach@chroniclet.com.