The family of a local soldier visiting their son who had just returned home from Iraq found themselves under lockdown in base housing as the deadly shooting rampage at Fort Hood unfolded Thursday.

Mark Ruic of Grafton Township was excited to be spending his birthday Thursday visiting his son, Spc. Jason Ruic, 26, who had just returned Monday from spending almost a year in Iraq. As his wife and daughter-in-law were in the kitchen making a turkey dinner to celebrate, and Jason had just returned from his daily work shift on the base, Ruic was watching TV and hanging out with his 2-year-old granddaughter, Beth.

Suddenly, everything went crazy.

“My wife heard what sounded like rapid gunfire, she called it machine-gun fire,” Mark Ruic said. He said Jason’s home was about a half-mile from where the shooting was.

Shortly after the gunfire began, Mark Ruic said the U.S. Army base’s lockdown sirens began to sound and their cell phones cut out. Ruic said loudspeakers announced to everyone to stay inside, and keep their windows and vents closed. He said his son called his sergeant to see if he needed to come in but was told to stay put and he would be called if he was needed.

“It was unclear what was going on, who was doing it, how many there were,” Mark Ruic said. “Things were very confusing.”

Meanwhile, patrol vehicles were out and Cobra helicopters were circling overhead.

Afterwards, Ruic said, things were a “nightmare mess” on the base. Traffic was backed up everywhere as schools canceled buses for the afternoon and parents had to go to the schools to pick up their children. Cars were being inspected before leaving Fort Hood, and no cars were allowed to enter.

Mark Ruic said his son knew the Soldiers Readiness Processing Center — the site of some of the shootings — well. It’s where soldier go to fill out paperwork before overseas deployments, he said.

The shootings also took place at the neighboring Howze Theater on the west side of the sprawling base.

Mark Ruic has spent a lot of time on military bases, between visiting Jason over his five-year Army career as well as his other son, Joseph, 23, a Marine sergeant currently serving in Afghanistan.

“This is definitely the strangest thing I’ve ever seen (on a base),” Ruic said.

Contact Brad Dicken at 329-7147 or bdicken@chroniclet.com and Melissa Hebert at 329-7129 or mhebert@chroniclet.com.

AMHERST TWP. — An Amherst man has died and a Lorain woman is in critical condition after being LifeFlighted to MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland after an accident this morning.

The two-vehicle accident happened about 7:40 a.m. at Middle Ridge and Oberlin roads, according to the State Highway Patrol.

Rebecca Stottlemire, 55, was driving a Jeep Grand Cherokee south on Middle Ridge when she lost control and went left of center, according to Trooper Krystal Evans. Stottlemire’s vehicle struck a Chevy Impala driven by George Thompson, 60, “pretty much head on,” according to Evans.

Both vehicles went off the road, Evans said. Stottlemire’s car struck a utility pole, and Thompson’s car went over the top of some landscaping.

Thompson died at the scene, and Stottlemire was taken first to Amherst Hospital and then flown to Cleveland.

Stottlemire has not been cited, and the accident remains under investigation, Evans said.

Read Friday’s Chronicle for more on this story.

ELYRIA — The Elyria Health Department received a large shipment of H1N1 flu vaccine and will be distributing thousands of free doses beginning today.

The vaccine will be distributed 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. today in empty storefronts in the wing near Macy’s at Midway Mall, said Elyria Health Commissioner Kathryn Boylan.

The Health Department has 100 doses of pre-filled syringes for children 6 months to 35 months old, 1,940 doses of the nasal mist and 1,700 doses of the shot form. And while it has an abundance of H1N1 vaccine, what it doesn’t have is a lot of the seasonal flu vaccine — that will be available today until the limited supply runs out.

The emphasis, Boylan said, is on H1N1.

“We really want to get the kids, pregnant women and the caregivers of anyone 6 months and younger,” Boylan said.

As with all clinics, they are subject to change or cancellation due to the vaccine supply. The phone number for the Health Department is (440) 323-7595, and updates are available at the Web site www.elyriahealth.com.

The initial priority groups for H1N1 are pregnant women, people who live with or care for infants younger than
6 months, workers in health care and emergency services who provide direct patient care; young people up to 24 years old and people ages 25 to 64 with chronic health disorders or compromised immune systems.

Examples of those with chronic illnesses needing the vaccine are those with chronic asthma, multiple sclerosis or muscular dystrophy, Boylan said.

“This particular virus is going way deep into the lungs,” she said.

The elderly are not among the target groups for the initial available vaccines because that population has been relatively free of H1NI, Boylan said.

The Health Department is not charging a fee for administering the H1N1 vaccine provided free from the federal government, Boylan said.

However, there is a $15 charge for the seasonal flu vaccine, which was purchased by the Health Department, Boylan said. Medicare and Medicaid will be accepted for the seasonal flu vaccine which should be in good supply by the time it hits this area, she said.

“Today there’s really no seasonal flu circulating,” Boylan said.

Since Oct. 15, the health department has held six H1N1 flu clinics: four open to the public, one for students at Lorain County Community College and one for people who work in emergency medical services.

Other flu clinics

• 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday at Elyria City Hall (the seasonal flu vaccine will not be available).
• 3 to 6 p.m. Tuesday at Open Door School Cafeteria, 8287 West Ridge Road.
• 4 to 7 p.m. Nov. 12 at Second Baptist Church, 427 16th St.
• 3 to 6 p.m. Nov. 19 at the Elyria City Schools Administration Building, 42101 Griswold Road.

Contact Cindy Leise at 329-7245 or cleise@chroniclet.com.

CLEVELAND — For days, there were no memorials in a run-down neighborhood where 11 bodies were found in one home. No flowers or framed photos. Just a few small melted candles and two stuffed animals tucked in the notch between a chain link fence and a brick wall.

By Thursday, someone had hung a sheet of plywood painted white on the fence near the home of 50-year-old Anthony Sowell, with the word MISSING stenciled in black. Five stuffed animals and an artificial rose adorned the sign, which now holds flyers showing 13 women and three men. Most of the missing are black, but a few are white or Hispanic.

There was no police activity Thursday morning at Sowell’s home.

Several pastors and a city councilman also planned to remember the victims found in the home, planning a prayer rally focused on consoling victims’ families Thursday morning at a local Baptist church.

Councilman Zach Reed has demanded an investigation into how police handled missing-person reports in neighborhoods near Sowell’s home. The ex-Marine, who served 15 years in prison for attempted rape, is being held without bond on five counts of aggravated murder.

Police have recovered 10 bodies and a skull from his Imperial Avenue property. So far, only one victim has been identified — 52-year-old Tonia Carmichael of Warrensville Heights.

Assistant Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Brian Murphy called Sowell “an incredibly dangerous threat to the public” and said he could face the death penalty if convicted of the aggravated murder counts. Sowell also faces charges of rape, felonious assault and kidnapping after a Sept. 22 attack on a woman at his home.

Another woman, who said Sowell attacked her on the street and dragged her into the home in December, told Cleveland television stations she would never forget the look in his eyes.

“It was like the devil, eyes glowing,” Gladys Wade said in an interview on WKYC-TV. “He was demonic or something. You could see the demons in him.”

Wade said she fought back as Sowell, “kept twisting my neck, twisting it, twisting it. And I was gouging his face at the same time. I was trying to take his eyeballs out.”

Police did not immediately return a telephone call Thursday seeking comment on whether Wade had filed a complaint with them about the alleged attack. A listed telephone number could not immediately be found for her.