On the Job 

The Ohio law enforcement community and the citizens of southwestern and central Ohio suffered tragic losses in May when two deputy sheriffs — Larry Ray Henderson Jr. of Hamilton County and Daniel Weston Sherrer of Morrow County — were killed in the line of duty just three weeks apart.

Henderson Jr., 57, died May 2 after being struck by a car driven by a man whose son had been fatally shot the day before by Cincinnati police during an auto-theft investigation. Henderson was directing traffic at the University of Cincinnati graduation at the time.

Henderson’s death occurred just days before Ohio’s annual Peace Officers Memorial Ceremony, where Attorney General Dave Yost mourned the deputy, adding, “We should never accept that these tragedies have to happen.”

Henderson served 33 years with the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office before retiring in December 2024, only to return to the agency as a special-duty deputy. During his law enforcement career, the former Marine served on the regional bomb squad, the SWAT team, and the FBI’s joint terrorism task force.

He leaves behind a wife and five children.

Prosecutors said they will seek the death penalty. The trial is scheduled to begin in January.
Morrow County Deputy Daniel Weston Sherrer, 31, was shot and killed on Memorial Day, May 26, when he responded to a report of gunshots at a home south of Marengo.

A 53-year-old man was seated on the porch holding a gun when Sherrer arrived. The suspect, who was wounded in an ensuing exchange of gunfire, has been charged with aggravated murder.

Sherrer had worked for the sheriff’s office for four years, his first law enforcement job.

“I share in the anguish experienced by so many in this tightknit community,” Yost said.

Sherrer graduated from the Delaware Area Career Center’s peace officer training academy. He was a field training officer and had completed the Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Law Enforcement Active Shooter Threat Training Program.

Said Morrow County Sherrif John Hinton: “He was a godsend for this sheriff's office, this community, this county.”