A judge sentenced an Ohio man to prison for 30 years to life after he admitted to killing two people by deliberately driving his pickup into a medical center in 2019, according to multiple reports.
Shortly before 10 a.m. on Sept. 13, 2019, Raymond Leiendecker, now 46, drove his truck through the emergency doors at Diley Ridge Medical Center in Fairfield County, reports local TV station NBC4.
Scott Davis, 61, and Cindy Fritz, 58, died from their injuries, TV station WBNS reported at the time. Leiendecker pleaded guilty to two counts of murder in March of this year.
Before his sentencing on Friday, Leiendecker apologized to the victims' families and told them he had tried to get help for his mental health issues but was turned away, according to the Lancaster Eagle Gazette newspaper.
Before 12 people related to the victims gave impact statements, Fairfield County Common Pleas Judge David Trimmer addressed Leiendecker and the courtroom.
"While there was only one act of driving the truck into the building, there were still two people killed as a result of the action. No single term reflects the seriousness of that action," Trimmer said. "Society lost two good members."
Cindy Fritz' husband David said he usually attended doctor visits with his wife but didn't go this time, the Gazette reported. Her siblings were devastated as they talked about her caring and fun-loving nature.
"There was nothing to prepare for that phone call I got from David, when he told me 'she's gone.' There was no last goodbye, there was no more 'I love you, bro' that she always left me with," her brother Gary Hutton said at the hearing, the paper reported. "She's gone long before her time. She'd be alive today if it weren't for [Leiendecker's] senseless act."
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Scott Davis was an employee at the hospital. Some of his co-workers spoke at the hearing and described what it has been like to work where their colleague was killed.
Nadine Engler said the trauma of the day's event affects her daily, the Gazette reported.
"Every night, I see the truck, I try to stop it, and I can't," Engler said. "It's all I can see before I go to bed, and I can't unsee it."
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