911 calls reveal OPD knew shooter owned guns

In a 911 call 10 hours before she was killed, junior Rebecca Eldemire told a dispatcher her ex-boyfriend Larry E. Tipton II, who was on his way to her apartment, owned guns.

Before leaving for Oxford that night, Tipton left a suicide note in his Columbus-area apartment, a search warrant inventory said.

At 9:56 p.m., Eldemire called 911. She told the dispatcher that her ex-boyfriend was coming to see her and that she was nervous.

Cincinnati's Local 12 WKRC-TV obtained the recordings of 911 calls.

In the recorded call, Eldemire told the dispatcher she had broken up with her boyfriend earlier that day.

"I'm having a bit of issues with my boyfriend," she said to the dispatcher. "He's coming in from out of town and he wants to talk to me. He obviously knows where I live and I'm just a little nervous about the situation."

Eldemire was talking about Tipton, the man who reportedly shot and killed Eldemire and himself the next day, Feb. 1.

"I was just wondering if I could get a police officer here, just to make sure everything's okay," Eldemire said.

She said Tipton was 15-20 minutes away.

"Have you guys been fighting or, why are you nervous?" the dispatcher asked.

Eldemire told the officer about their break up. Earlier that day, she said, she had driven to Columbus to talk to him. Eldemire described this first encounter as "a little violent."

"He was just throwing things around," she said.

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Then, the dispatcher asked, "Do you know if he has any weapons or anything?"

"He does own guns, but I don't think he would bring any with him," Eldemire said.

Eldemire told 911 that Tipton didn't say anything about coming there to hurt her and that he had no history of being violent.

When officers arrived at Eldemire's apartment, they waited for Tipton in the parking lot, according to an affidavit in support of a search warrant.

When he arrived, Eldemire reportedly asked the officers to escort her and Tipton to her apartment. Once in the apartment, Eldemire, Tipton and the officers had a "brief conversation," according to an Oxford Police Deparment press release. Eldemire then told the officers they were no longer needed and they could leave.

The next morning, OPD received another recorded 911 call - this time from Eldemire's roommates.

"My friend and her boyfriend were having some issues last night and then he ended up spending the night," one roommate said to the dispatcher. "And then, about 10 minutes ago, we heard a bunch of really loud noises from her room and then an alarm went off in our apartment."

Eldemire's door was locked and her roommates said no one was answering.

When OPD officers entered the room, they found Eldemire dead from multiple gunshot wounds and Tipton dead, also from a gunshot wound. The officers found a revolver next to Tipton. The gun had a capacity of seven rounds. Just two rounds remained unfired.

When police searched Tipton's apartment in Taylor Station, Ohio, they found his empty gun case and the suicide note.

OPD are investigating the case as a murder-suicide.

OPD Public Information Officer Sergeant Jon Varley said he could not elaborate on the Jan. 31 call that came just 11 hours before Eldemire's death. Varley said he had planned to tell reporters more, but the City of Oxford's law director Stephen McHugh instructed him against it. McHugh was not available for comment.