Cleveland Officer Alexander Sinclair admits guilt in shooting near Painesville school

In a courtroom in Lake County, suspended officer Alexander Sinclair entered a plea of guilty to several offenses related to his involvement in a shooting at a Painesville elementary school parking lot in the prior year.

Amid accusations of deliberately crashing his car into the victim’s vehicle and subsequently firing a single shot at the victim’s windshield during what authorities labeled as a “domestic dispute,” Sinclair altered his plea before Lake County Common Pleas Court Judge Vincent Culotta. The incident occurred on October 31, 2024, outside Riverview Elementary School while Sinclair was not on official duty with the Cleveland Division of Police.

Sinclair pleaded guilty to the following charges: 

• One count of kidnapping
• One count of abduction
• Two counts of endangering children
• One count of assault
• One count of inducing panic

In a separate indictment, Sinclair also faced charges related to a physical struggle between Sinclair and a sheriff’s deputy. Sinclair pleaded guilty to a felony count of obstructing official business in connection to the incident.

3News has reached out to the Cleveland Division of Police for clarification on Sinclair’s current employment status.

Before Culotta heard Sinclair’s guilty plea, the judge called prosecuting attorney Adam Downing to establish the facts that would have been heard had the case gone to trial. 

According to the prosecution, Sinclair arrived in the parking lot of his child’s day care facility around 9 a.m. on Oct. 31. He appeared by surprise outside his wife’s car with his wife, their shared children, and a man with which his wife was romantically involved all inside the vehicle. Downing said Sinclair began punching the car’s passenger side window until it shattered. 

Sinclair’s wife was able to drive away, with Sinclair following behind on Madison Avenue towards Riverview Elementary School at what witnesses described as an “extremely high rate of speed,” Downing said.

Sinclair’s wife arrived at Riverview Elementary around 9:05 a.m. to drop off the child. Downing said the school’s parking lot was “very busy,” with multiple parents and school buses dropping off students for the school day. 

When the woman drove away from the entrance and came to a stop sign, Sinclair drove across the parking lot through a grassy area and crashed into his wife’s car. Sinclair then exited his car and pointed a pistol toward the front windshield of the car and approached the passenger side, reaching in through the shattered window to grab the male victim while threatening to kill him.

Multiple other parents and school officials witnessed the incident and called 911. During the struggle inside the vehicle, Downing said Sinclair pointing the pistol and fired a shot. The bullet exited through the victim’s windshield before hitting the top of Sinclair’s vehicle. 

Downing said during this time, Sinclair and his wife’s 3-year-old child was inside her car.

According to prosecutors, Sinclair dragged the man out of the passenger seat and again pointed his gun at him, threatening to kill him. A Lake County sheriff’s deputy working as a school resource officer ran toward the disturbance, drew his gun and ordered Sinclair to drop his weapon. 

While Sinclair did drop the gun, Downing said the defendant did not comply with further orders, telling the deputy that he wanted to die and that the deputy would have to kill him. The deputy holstered his gun and pulled out his Taser, at which time Sinclair charged at the deputy and pinned him against one of the vehicles. 

The school resource officer deployed the Taser and officers were able to take Sinclair into custody. The school resource officer, the male victim and Sinclair were all treated for minor injuries.

Culotta deferred sentencing and ordered victim impact statements, a presentence report and a psychological evaluation for Sinclair.