CLEVELAND, Ohio (AP) — A woman has been charged with aggravated murder in the slaying of an off-duty Cleveland police officer gunned down during a parking lot carjacking, authorities said.
Cleveland police on Sunday announced the charge against against 18-year-old Tamara McLoyd in Friday’s shooting death of 25-year-old Officer Shane Bartek at an apartment building on Cleveland’s west side. Police on Saturday announced multiple arrests in the slaying of Bartek, who was approached in the lot and shot twice during a struggle.
Bartek was pronounced dead at Fairview Hospital. The carjacker fled in the officer’s vehicle, which was tracked down in suburban Euclid and one person arrested at that time, police said.
Bartek had been hired by the Cleveland police in August 2019. Cleveland police were joined by officers from nearby agencies for a procession in his honor Saturday morning.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether McLoyd had an attorney; a listed number in her name couldn’t be found Sunday.
It was the first fatal shooting of a Cleveland police officer since detective James Skernivitz was shot and killed in September 2020 during an undercover drug operation. A police informant was also killed.