Details surrounding the death of Christopher Lindner are still emerging. The son of Carl Lindner III, Christopher Lindner was shot and killed by police in Ohio’s Adams County on Nov. 14, coroner reports confirm.
The 40-year-old was fatally shot after police said he emerged from a Manchester residence with a firearm following a vehicle chase.
“After repeated attempts for the subject to surrender he exited the residence with a firearm at which time an officer-involved shooting occurred,” Ohio State Highway Patrol said in a news release
The incident involves a member of one of Ohio’s wealthiest families. Here’s some background on the Lindner family:.
Lindner’s father is Carl Lindner III
Carl Lindner III is co-CEO of American Financial Group, a specialty insurer based in downtown Cincinnati.
The corporate parent generated $8.3 billion in annual revenue in 2024, nabbing it the No. 460 spot on the Fortune 500 list. Lindner’s father is also the majority owner of FC Cincinnati, the city’s Major League Soccer team.
His grandfather was a mogul financier
Lindner’s grandfather was Carl Lindner Jr., a high school dropout, whose family founded the United Dairy Farmers chain of ice cream-selling convenience stores. In 1959, he founded American Financial, which started as a holding company for savings and loan banks, but later evolved into an insurer.
In 2009, two years before his death at 92, Forbes magazine estimated Carl Lindner Jr.’s personal wealth at $1.75 billion. His grandfather’s investment career also led to major stakes in several businesses, including at various times the Cincinnati Reds, The Enquirer, General Cable Corp., The Penn Central Corp., Hanna-Barbera Productions, Kings Island Co., the former Taft Broadcasting Co., Chiquita Brands International and The Provident Bank.
As a philanthropist, Carl Lindner Jr. also helped found Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy and mental health facility the Lindner Center of HOPE. The University of Cincinnati also named its business school after Lindner following years of financial support.
Lindner family still behind UDF, once owned Thriftway supermarkets
The Linder family remains prominent investor in United Dairy Farmers and pledged “continued involvement” last month after it tapped the first non-family member as its new CEO.
The Lindner family also owned the now-defunct Thriftway supermarket chain in Cincinnati, before it was sold in 1995 to Florida-based Winn-Dixie, which closed it down in 2004.
Lindners are both donors and friends of President Trump
The Trump and Lindner families have been friends for years; the Lindners held a 2017 family wedding at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, and Trump himself stopped in.
“I know both families very, very well. They’ve been members of this club for a long time. They pay me a fortune,” Trump said in a video recorded at the wedding of Carl Lindner IV. Trump also named Carl Lindner III to the Kennedy Center Board of Trustees.
Contributing: Scott Wartman, Matthew Cupelli, Cameron Knight