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Mother's death, impending divorce, lack of medication are factors in Lakemore killing
By Phil Trexler
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Saturday, Jan 10, 2009
LAKEMORE: His mother had died unexpectedly, he avoided the pills that helped combat his depression, and just this week, his wife left him.
Daniel Tice's emotions boiled over Thursday afternoon when his wife, Brandi, came to pick up their three children, a day after announcing her intention to divorce.
Brandi Tice, 28, would never leave the Lakemore house. She died of a single gunshot wound to the head — a rifle shot that police say was fired by her estranged husband.
About seven hours later, after keeping SWAT officers at bay with his 4-year-old son by his side, Daniel Tice was shot by police, struck by a 9 mm bullet that miraculously bounced off his forehead, sparing his life.
Tice, 32, was to undergo surgery Friday for a fractured skull. He is expected to recover and be charged with murder.
Daniel Tice admitted in conversations to family, friends and police that he killed his wife of eight years, shooting her once in the head with a .22-caliber rifle, police said.
He blamed infidelity and divorce.
''[Brandi Tice] told me before she
was wanting to leave him and I said be careful because of his mom dying, [Daniel] was bomb,'' family friend Janice Wood told police in a taped call. ''I was afraid something would happen.'
Wood, a close friend of Tice's late mother Diana, told police that Daniel Tice called her after the shooting. Around the same time, police were surrounding his home.
''He said he killed his wife,'' Wood said. ''He thought everybody was against him or hated him . . . he said, 'I'm not coming out [of the house]. They're going to have to kill me.' ''
Daniel Tice made a series of phone calls that afternoon, including one to a sister who came to the Tices' ranch-style home on Martha Avenue shortly after 3 p.m., saw Brandi Tice's body on the living room floor and fled outside.
Tice's brother-in-law struggled for the rifle outside the home, but the towering Daniel Tice won out, and retreated back inside.
At one point, Tice stood guard by a window with his rifle in one hand and his son, Noah, in the other, police said.
Shortly afterward, Tice's daughters, Faith, 8, and Grace, 7, exited their school bus and were met by police, who rushed the girls away before they could go inside their home.
Stressful standoff
For the next seven-plus hours, police took over Martha Avenue, trying to coax Tice into surrendering and hoping to avoid more bloodshed. Lakemore Mayor Michael Kolomichuk gave the order to use deadly force on Daniel Tice, if necessary.
A small army of SWAT officers, talking by phone to Tice, crept closer over several hours — from the street, to the front door, to the living room and eventually to the basement stairs, where Tice paced below with his son.
The silence was sometimes unnerving to police, who feared little Noah was dead. As the night dragged, they hadn't heard from the child and Tice was talking to police in past tense about how much he loved his son.
''We were worried that he had done something to Noah because he wouldn't let us talk to the child,'' Police Chief Kenneth Ray said.
Police eventually disconnected a land line into the Tice home and with the help of prosecutors, they cut off Tice's cell phone. Negotiators then moved inside the house to bring Tice a cell phone.
By then, Tice had moved to the cover of the basement, at times hiding under the staircase. Metro SWAT members tossed a miniature camera to the basement, which gave them insights into Tice's location.
Around 10:40 p.m., SWAT snipers from the top of the steps could see Tice and his rifle leaning against a wall out of reach. They fired two nonlethal bean bags, hoping to knock him to the floor. The bean bags didn't faze Tice, who then made a move for his rifle, police said.
A sniper tried to fire his AR-15 assault rifle, but the trigger jammed. A second SWAT sniper twice fired his MP5 assault rifle. One shot missed; another struck Tice's forehead, penetrating to the bone and bouncing off.
Suspect interviewed
Police interviewed Daniel Tice at Akron City Hospital shortly after he was shot.
''He confessed, that's all he did,'' Chief Ray said. ''He didn't give a reason. He just said he did it.''
Noah was reunited with his sisters. The children are staying with Brandi Tice's mother, Sandra Fox, 53, in Green.
''She was a good mother, she loved her kids so much,'' said Brandi Tice's uncle, Randy Renard.
The Tices spent Christmas with Renard and other family members at Sandra Fox's home. The get-together came four days after Daniel Tice's mother died.
Daniel Tice, who family said suffers from bipolar disorder, said little on Christmas Day. Family and police said Tice stopped taking his medication, which contributed to his erratic behavior.
''They brought the kids over for Christmas and I already heard what he was going through with his mother,'' Renard said. ''He come over and he didn't talk for four hours. He just sat in the chair with a stare.''
On Wednesday, Brandi Tice told her husband she wanted a divorce and was taking the children, Renard said. Police said the couple had a history of domestic squabbles, some of which ended with Daniel Tice's arrest.
Daniel Tice also told friends that his wife was carrying on an affair with one of his relatives. The couple married in 2000.
On Thursday afternoon, Brandi Tice arrived at the Martha Avenue home, planning to take her daughters with her as they exited their school bus.
Brandi Tice worked the past four years with Community Caregivers, a Hartville home health care provider. She visited three or four patients every day, helping them with health needs.
Terry Smith, the company's director, said Brandi Tice grew close with her patients, whom she would visit for more than two hours a day, passing the time sharing stories and proudly showing pictures of her children.
She hoped one day to be a nurse to better provide for her family, he said. The company has set up a fund at all Huntington bank branches to help the Tice children.
''Brandi was somebody who had been through some bumps in the road, some hard knocks,'' Smith said. ''Yet she was someone who gave so much even though she had so little herself.''
Phil Trexler can be reached at 330-996-3717 or ptrexler@thebeaconjournal.com.
LAKEMORE: His mother had died unexpectedly, he avoided the pills that helped combat his depression, and just this week, his wife left him.
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Comments
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akron, oh
Posted 07:10 AM, 01/10/2009
My condolences to both families.
Posted 07:48 AM, 01/11/2009
Sad story, it seems to me that bad timing played a major role in this mishap.The mans mother just dies over the holidays which is stressful enough under normal condiions and the wife wants a divorce so close to the death of her husbands mother? That in of itself is pretty cold hearted so mabye she should have waited for a better time to do this. you don't rock the boat when a person is already unstable in the first place.
Stow, OH
Posted 08:43 AM, 01/14/2009
not to mention he is bipolar and not taking medication is no joke. that will mess you up
