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Feds To Investigate After Grand Jury Declines To Charge White Cops In Fatal Shooting Of “Man” Holding A Pellet Gun At Ohio Walmart
Holder didn’t get the desired results, Office Wilson is next.
Via NY Daily News
Two Ohio police were justified when they shot and killed a man holding a pellet gun inside a Beavercreek Walmart, a grand jury decided Wednesday in declining to indict the cops.
But the U.S. Justice Department will take a look at the case for possible civil rights violations, the feds announced just hours after the local decision.
John Crawford III, 22, was on his cellphone the evening of Aug. 5 when Sgt. David Darkow and Officer Dean Williams found him down an aisle, holding a Crosman MK-177 BB/pellet rifle in one hand, and opened fire, killing him.
A grand jury, seated Monday, heard from 18 different witnesses, watched and listened to hours of audio and video and found the Beavercreek police officers were not guilty of murder, negligent homicide or reckless homicide, Special Prosecutor Mark Piepmeier said at a news conference following the decision.
A 37-year-old woman, Angela Williams, died after going into cardiac arrest as she ran from the store following the shooting around 8:25 p.m. Aug. 5.
The special prosecutor, appointed to investigate the case by State Attorney General Mike DeWine, called the shooting a tragedy for Crawford’s family and the officers, who will live their lives knowing “they took the life of someone who didn’t need to die.”[...]
Piepmeier showed store surveillance video which captured the moments before, during and after the shooting, all synced up with a 911 call placed by shopper Ronald Ritchie.
Ritchie told dispatchers that Crawford pointed the facsimile weapon at women and children and appeared to be “trying to load” the gun. Earlier this month, he changed his story, telling The Guardian, “At no point did he shoulder the rifle and point it at somebody.”
He was waving it around, Ritchie said.[...]
Beavercreek police had undergone training for active shooter situations just two weeks before the deadly confrontation.
The two cops have been on paid leave since the shooting, though investigators have not said which one fired the fatal shot.