CINCINNATI — In the weeks before he was shot and killed by police in Adams County, Christopher Lindner’s wife was granted a restraining order and told the courts she was “afraid of what he might do with his guns.”
Lindner was killed Friday after he led the Adams County Sheriff’s Office and Ohio State Highway Patrol (OSHP) on a pursuit to his Manchester home. There, law enforcement asked him to surrender multiple times before Lindner came out of the home with a gun and was shot by officers, OSHP said. Lindner was pronounced dead at the scene.
He is the son of Carl Lindner III, the co-CEO of American Financial Group and the CEO and majority owner of FC Cincinnati. The Lindners have been a prominent Cincinnati family involved in several businesses for decades, including United Dairy Farmers, American Financial Group, Chiquita Brands International and the Cincinnati Reds.
WATCH: We spoke to the Adams County Prosecutor’s Office about the release of 911 calls from the shooting
Investigation continues into the fatal shooting of Christopher Lindner
In her petition for a temporary restraining order, Tabitha Lindner said her husband was at times both verbally and physically abusive. She also detailed his history of alcohol and drug addiction.
“He has threatened to shoot me if I left the house to escape while pointing a gun at me,” Tabitha wrote in her petition for a protection order. “His psychologist has diagnosed him with psychotic breaks stemming from drug and alcohol use and abuse.”
Tabitha Lindner also recounted a 2019 incident where her husband, while under the influence of drugs and alcohol, waved a firearm at her and her children “in a threatening manner while screaming obscenities at us.” According to court records, Lindner was charged with aggravated menacing, but Tabitha said she dismissed it on the condition that he go to rehab.
In the petition for the protection order, Tabitha also detailed how her husband “began telling (her) that he was having conversations with God.”
“He told me that he was Jesus Christ and hadn’t known how to tell me these past few weeks,” Tabitha Lindner wrote. “He said he was supposed to play a part in bringing around the rapture and he wasn’t sure yet what that would entail.”
After he told his wife he would “detox,” Tabitha said she saw her husband with a bulletproof vest, gun and ammo at their Manchester home.
In another court document, Tabitha Lindner says she is “afraid of what he might do with his guns.”
The protection order was first granted on Oct. 8 before it was once again reinstated on Nov. 3 after a full hearing. Lindner was ordered to give up all firearms.
OSHP did not say what prompted Lindner to lead authorities on a police chase to their Manchester home Friday. They also did not specify if Lindner fired any shots at law enforcement before he was killed.
In a statement on behalf of Carl Lindner III, the family said it’s “deeply saddened and devastated” by Lindner’s death.
Here is the full statement:
“Our family is deeply saddened and devastated by the death of Christopher David Lindner. Christopher was a loving, kind, Christ Jesus follower, husband, and father of four who has suffered from mental illness. We thank you for your prayers and appreciate giving us time to grieve.”
OSHP said the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation is continuing to investigate the shooting.
