Five days before Michael Hance killed seven people during a shooting spree in Copley Township, he walked into a small pawnshop in downtown Barberton to buy one of the two handguns used in his cold-blooded assault.
The workers at Sydmor’s Jewelry on Second Street Northwest noticed nothing unusual about him or his behavior that day. As far as they were concerned, it was just another transaction for the store, which sells everything from jewelry to guitars to guns.
The 51-year-old Hance breezed through the required federal background check — noting that he had no felony criminal history — and immediately took possession of a .45-caliber Hi-Point weapon.
“There was nothing here that would have had any of us suspect anything,” store owner Tom Sydmor said Tuesday.
Authorities are still trying to piece together who Michael Hance was and why he snapped Sunday morning, shooting his longtime girlfriend multiple times and killing their next-door neighbors and members of his girlfriend’s family.
It’s unclear whether Hance — who was shot dead by police — bought the weapon on Aug. 2 with the intent to kill. Two guns were used in the assault. Authorities said Tuesday that they are still trying to determine the history of the other weapon.
According to multiple interviews with authorities and people who knew him, the 6-foot-3, 200-pound Hance was a kind, quiet man who always was willing to lend a helping hand. But he also was prone to bizarre behavior.
Hance was a 1978 graduate of Norton High School. According to his yearbook, he was chosen as “Most Courteous” for his “consideration and good manners toward everyone.”
His high school activities included no sports but the Astronomy Club and Biology Honorary Club, a hand-picked group of students interested in science and medical careers.
He was smart and particularly interested in science and nature, said a former teacher, who asked that her name not be published. His Copley neighbors have reported that he often read textbooks on diseases and medical procedures.
“He was a tall kid and quiet,” the retired teacher said. “He minded his own business and didn’t bother anybody.”
She recalled that he grew up around Wolf Creek and would canoe there to watch animals. During school, he was extremely interested in Bigfoot and even talked about going out West to search for the creature — talk that she chalked up to his just being young. She fell out of touch with him after he graduated, but doesn’t think he attended college.
Classmate David Witner, now a firefighter/paramedic with Cuyahoga Falls, played football with Hance until the eighth grade. He also was in the Biology Honorary Club.
“In school, he was a nice guy,” Witner said. “He was really quiet and that’s all I remember about him.”
Home in Akron
Hance’s parents, William “Bill” Harrison Hance, a former autoworker at the Ford plant in Walton Hills, and Thelma Sue Hance, are both deceased. A sister who lives in Portage County could not be reached for comment.
Hance reportedly had been employed at a printer’s shop in Akron at one time. But he was currently out of work.
For years, Hance and girlfriend Rebecca Dieter, who remains hospitalized, lived at 804 Minota Ave. in the Firestone Park neighborhood of Akron. They moved to Copley into Dieter’s parents’ home two years ago after her parents had died. But they kept the Akron home.
Their two-story, vinyl-sided Akron residence has been neatly maintained. A Ford F-250 pickup with a snowplow was in the driveway and an older pickup sat beside the garage Tuesday.
Minota residents described the couple as quiet and no one had ever heard them argue. They said Hance often helped out his neighbors with snowplowing or fixing vehicles. He would repair vehicles in his garage, they said.
“I was working on my car in the middle of winter and my buddy, who was helping me, left,” next-door neighbor Daryl McCraney, 29, said. “Mike came over to my garage and helped me fix my car.”
His mother, Gail McCraney, said that Hance even gave her his cell phone number when he moved away and told her to call if she ever needed help.
“When you got to know him, he was friendly,” she said. “He was a friendly guy.”
Minota resident Sandy Haught said that Hance and Dieter “pretty much kept to themselves.”
Dieter worked as a clerk at the Veterans Administration. Every morning, Hance would go outside and kiss her goodbye, Haught said. Sometimes he would follow her down the street a few doors.
But Hance also had some odd tendencies.
“One time, he came outside in the pouring rain and started hosing off his driveway,” Haught said. She had heard — but never witnessed — that he had gotten a kayak, put it in his driveway and practiced rowing.
2009 police report
Akron police also were aware of Hance’s strange behavior, at least peripherally. More than two years ago, he contacted authorities about activities in the sky.
Hance was paranoid about too many jet contrails in the sky, according to a May 30, 2009, police report. The responding officers classified his behavior as a “signal 43.” The term is code for a person displaying mental problems.
“The report basically says he was crazy,” police Lt. Rick Edwards said.
Such reports are known as “field interviews” and usually do not require any follow-up investigation by police.
Hance apparently was unhappy about living in Copley. He would often come back to the Akron residence to mow the grass.
During one of his visits, Haught said he told her: “I wish I was back in this neighborhood. I don’t like it over there. I like this neighborhood so much better.”
And he told Gail McCraney that he wasn’t well-liked by his Copley neighbors.
“He wasn’t angry about it,” she said. “It was more like ‘woe is me.’ ”


Rick Armon can be reached at 330-996-3569 or rarmon@thebeaconjournal.com.
Kathy Antoniotti can be reached at 330-996-3565 or kantoniotti@thebeaconjournal.com.
Ed Meyer can be reached at 330-996-3784 or emeyer@thebeaconjournal.com.