Hardin County Sheriff's deputies are investigating the death of a Mount Victory man. At 12:37 a.m. Saturday September 3, Hardin County Central Dispatch received a report of a vehicle setting in the roadway with its headlights off, on County Rd. 135 at Township Road 110, Kenton. Upon investigation the car's driver, 44-year-old Richard Eugene Whitaker, Jr. was found inside the car and critically injured, suffering from an apparent gunshot wound. 

Whitaker was transported to the Hardin Memorial Hospital Emergency Department and then transferred by Life Flight to Mercy Health - St. Rita's Medical Center in Lima, where he died, at 10:56 a.m. 

The incident remains under investigation. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Hardin County Sheriff's Office at (419) 673-1268 to speak to a detective. 

The Sheriff's Office was assisted at the scene by the Kenton Police Department, BKP EMS, Kenton Fire Dept., Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, the Hardin County Prosecutor's Office and Osborn Towing and Recovery Services.