Former Ohio DNR officer gets prison for shooting at Clermont home

Batavia, Ohio — A former ODNR natural resources officer was sentenced to prison for shooting both of his parents in early March.

Austin Snyder, 25, pleaded guilty to felonious assault for shooting his parents inside their Clermont County home. Both of the parents survived and were in the courtroom two weeks ago when Snyder was sentenced to seven to nine years in prison.

Before the sentencing, Snyder’s parents asked for leniency, according to WXIX TV in Cincinnati.

“Your honor, Austin Synder is my son,” Snyder’s father told the judge. “He is a loving father to a seven-month-old. I’m here today to ask for leniency in his sentencing.”

Snyder was off duty at the time of the shooting and was heavily intoxicated, according to published reports on the incident.

A police officer responding to the scene said he found the suspect at the edge of the driveway of the home and arrested him without incident. Another responding officer went inside the home and found multiple bullet holes in a bedroom door and on the walls of the bedroom.

One of the victims, a 51-year-old woman, was shot in the wrist and shoulder, according to the police report. The other, a 53-year-old man, was shot in the forearm and carried out of the home on a stretcher. Both have recovered from their injuries, WXIX reported.

Snyder had been employed as a natural resource officer with the ODNR Division of Parks and Watercraft at East Fork State Park in Clermont County.