Everything we know about the killing of a Beachwood doctor, and the fatal standoff connected to it (2024)

Robin Goist, cleveland.com

SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio -- The police investigation into the slaying of a Beachwood doctor took an unusual turn late Friday and early Saturday with a SWAT standoff that ended with two others dead.

Cleveland.com has been following the story since Thursday when the body of Dr. Richard Warn was discovered at his Beachwood home.

In the ensuing days, police served a search warrant at a South Euclid home connected to Warn that resulted in a tense standoff with a SWAT team.

Two are now dead, and the 10-hour standoff ended with many questions still unanswered.

Here is what we know so far.

911 call: Thursday, Aug. 9, 6:08 p.m.

Dr. Warn's wife, Jane, called 911 saying that she and her family just returned from vacation and did not have a key to the house.

Her voice shakes as she explains to dispatch that her husband was not answering repeated knocks on the door, even though his car was in the driveway.

Justin Madden, cleveland.com

Beachwood police arrived a few minutes later to the Brentwood Road home and discovered Dr. Warn dead inside.

Police suspected foul play in Warn's death, and told reporters that there were no signs of any forced entry into the home.

Within hours, the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner's Office released a statement saying Warn died of multiple gunshot wounds.

Richard Warn's obituary

Richard was a podiatrist in the Cleveland area for 35 years, according to his obituary published in The Plain Dealer.

Neighbors and coworkers describedhim as a nice man and a devoted father to a daughter, Danielle, and two sons, Mark and Michael. He remarried over a decade ago and shared his home with his wife, Jane, and three Golden Retrievers.

"I was in utter shock," said Shelly Zemelman, 59, who lived next door to Warn for 20 years and has known him since childhood. "I ran home. Just utter shock. We were the same age. I just don't know what else to say."

SWAT standoff: Friday, Aug. 10, 7:30 p.m.

Beachwood police investigators went with a search warrant to a home on the 4300 block of Elmwood Road in South Euclid, a property Warn owned, county records show.

Dr. Warn's sons, Michael and Mark, lived at the home.

"We had the EDGE SWAT team assist by clearing the home prior to the detectives conducting the search," Beachwood Chief of Police Gary Haba said.

As the SWAT team approached the home about 7:30 p.m., someone inside the home opened fire. Over the next 10 hours, officers set up camp outside the home.

Robin Goist, cleveland.com

Someone inside the home shot at officers, damaging the windshield of an armored SWAT vehicle, pictured above.

The officers returned fire and retreated, South Euclid police Chief Kevin Niehart said. Negotiators made several unsuccessful attempts to contact the people inside the home.

None of the officers were hurt during what would become a 10-hour standoff that ended when the SWAT team approached the building.

Police took gradually more aggressive tactics to get the suspects to surrender before determining that they were deceased.

Two dead: Saturday, Aug. 11, 9:00 a.m.

In the early hours of Saturday, neighbors saw officers using some sort of battering ram to enter the home, where they discovered two dead men.

Nietart confirmed that the two men were persons of interest in Dr. Warn's murder.

Robin Goist, cleveland.com

South Euclid neighbors gathered Saturday morning to compare their sleepless nights filled with sounds of gunfire and the lights from dozens of police vehicles. Many said the men who lived in the house were a little out of the ordinary, often throwing loud parties and calling police for small matters, like how closely a neighbor parked to the curb.

The older Warn brother, Michael, called South Euclid police at least 12 times from 2012 to 2014 - including eight times in a single month - to complain about cars parked too close to his driveway

The homeowners also set up security cameras around the house pointed toward the street, which were still visible after the damage from the standoff.

Robin Goist, cleveland.com

Sons identified: Monday, Aug. 13, 3:42 p.m.

The Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner said Dr. Warn's sons, Mark and Michael, were found dead in the Elmwood Road home of self-inflicted gunshot wounds.

Mark, 29, and Michael, 31, fatally shot themselves and their deaths were ruled suicides, the medical examiner said.

We will update this post when more information becomes available.