CLEVELAND (AP) — A woman arrested and charged with aggravated murder in the fatal shooting of an off-duty Cleveland police officer during a carjacking has told authorities she shot the officer, a Cleveland city prosecutor said during the woman’s first court appearance Monday.
A Cleveland Municipal Court judge set bond at $5 million for Tamara McLoyd, 18, of Garfield Heights. She was told by the judge on Monday to get an attorney.
McLoyd is charged with killing officer Shane Bartek, 25, during a carjacking in the parking lot of an apartment building on Friday on Cleveland’s west side. Bartek was ambushed, struggled with assailants and was shot twice in the back, authorities said.
Surveillance cameras recorded McLoyd driving off in Bartek’s car, according to court records.
Suburban police later Friday arrested a 25-year-old man who was driving Bartek’s car after a high-speed chase. He has been charged with receiving stolen property and fleeing and eluding.
McLoyd also has been charged in a separate armed robbery of a Cleveland restaurant and is considered a suspect in other robberies, authorities said.
Bartek joined the Cleveland police department in 2019.
It was the first fatal shooting of a Cleveland police officer since detective James Skernivitz was shot and killed in September 2020 during an undercover drug operation. A police informant was also killed.
