MAIMI TOWNSHIP — Molly and Lindsey Duncan, the residents who lived at the Grinnell Road home where a shooting occurred Feb. 12 resulting in the deaths of Robert Reed Sanders and Cheryl Sanders, made statements to the media Feb. 14 alongside their attorney Greg Lind.
“I thought it was a bad dream, a bad nightmare,” Lindsey said. “I didn’t know what to do — whatever happened after that, it was instinct. I was operating off of pure instinct.”
Lindsey described how the event took place. He said he and Molly went to Dino’s Cappuccinos in the Village of Yellow Springs for beverages followed by Emporium Wines and Underdog Cafe for breakfast and returned to their home on the 3400 block of Grinnell Road. As they pulled up to the gate of the home, they observed an Amazon package placed on a light pillar. Lindsey said Molly would grab the package while he picked up the mail.
“Just like every other day,” Linsdey said. “Then all of a sudden, hell began.”
“All I remember is a six-foot, four or five-inch man that was probably 230 pounds with a camo mask and camo hoodie on ran to my wife’s [side of the car] with a gun and held it about 10 inches from her head,” he described through tears.
Lindsey said Molly was in the middle of two seperate gun battles with bullets flying four-to-six inches from her head on two separate occasions.
“Her being alive today, I’ll never be able to explain it,” he said. “It wasn’t one shot or two shots — it seemed like one hundred shots. There were shells everywhere.”
The couple said the way Greene County Sheriff Gene Fischer described the event as an ambush set-up was accurate. Robert Reed Sanders and Cheryl Sanders were killed during the shooting.
“I’m extremely thankful to be alive and extremely thankful that my husband is alive,” Molly said. “He is my absolute hero. Thank God he knew how to respond and stayed calm and knew exactly what to do. God was on our side that day, no question, and God orchestrated everything perfectly so that we are still alive.”
“I am a mother and I still get to see my kids grow up,” she added.
Fischer reported that Lindsey is a CCW (carrying concealed weapon) permit holder and had a gun on his person at the time of the shooting. Suzanne Schmidt of the Greene County Prosecutors Office said during a press conference discussing the event Feb. 13 that a CCW is a license to carry a concealed weapon that can be obtained with proper education and training. In Ohio, CCW permit holders are able to use guns to defend themselves in their own homes and vehicles.
Schmidt said Feb. 13 that she is anticipating a lengthy investigation. Fischer added during the press conference that he anticipates the Greene County Coroner’s Office will rule the deaths as a homicide.
According to a press release by the Greene County Sheriff’s Office, 37 calls had been made from the residence since 2015. Fischer said during the Feb. 13 press conference that five years ago, Lindsey made a call saying that his ex-wife, Cheryl Sanders, was planning to hire someone to murder him. The Greene County Sheriff’s Office responded at the time by increasing patrol in the area. Fischer was unclear about how long Lindsey Duncan and Cheryl Sanders had been divorced. They had two college-aged daughters together.
“I would ask everyone to pray for us because this is a really difficult time for our family,” Molly said. “We’re doing what we can, which is coming together as a family.”
The exact number of gunshot wounds suffered by Robert Reed Sanders and Cheryl Sanders has not yet been released. The motive is also still unclear. The Ohio Uniform Incident Report described the offenses as justifiable homicide, which is not a crime, and aggravated assault, a third-degree felony.
Fischer said Robert Reed Sanders had multiple forms of identification on his person; Fischer believes he had planned to flea the area after the shooting had occurred. The sheriff also reported that the Sanders vehicle had fictitious temporary tags attached. He added that Robert Reed Sanders and Cheryl Sanders came from out of state and is unclear how long they were in the area before the Feb. 12 shooting took place.
A camera system was set-up on a stump across the street and a live-feed was being broadcasted to a cell phone inside the Sanders vehicle. Fischer said it is believed that Cheryl Sanders, who worked as a Hollywood stunt woman according to a website, was watching the events occur from the vehicle on the cellphone. The Duncans also had at least one security camera, but Fischer said it was not turned on at the time of the event.
“The most difficult part of this whole process — besides listening to my wife say ‘I’m going to die, they’re going to kill me’ — was having to tell my two daughters that their mother has been shot,” Lindsey said through tears.