What will the grand jury decide?
No indictments were returned against Beavercreek police officers Sean Williams and Sgt. David Darkow in the fatal shooting of John Crawford III, 22, of Fairfield. No one else was indicted either.
Why did the grand jury return no indictment?
Mark Piepmeier, special prosecutor, said that the law weighs what responding police officers knew or thought they knew at the time of the shooting.
“One of the things under the law that decides whether a shooting was justified was what is in the mind of the police officer,” Piepmeier said.
911 caller Ronald Ritchie told dispatchers that Crawford was “waving” what turned out to be a BB gun at fellow shoppers and at one point was attempting to load it. That led to a dispatcher telling responding officers that Crawford was trying to put a bullet in the gun.
“At one point the officer even calls back to the dispatcher to confirm, ‘Are you sure he’s pointing it at people?’” Piepmeier said. “And they (dispatchers) confirm, ‘Yes, that’s what the caller says. He’s pointing it at people.’”
Beavercreek police officers were trained in responding to active shooters just two weeks before, July 23 and 24, the prosecutor said.
Before 1999, officers were trained to wait for SWAT teams to arrive before facing active shooters, the prosecutor said. But officers today are expected to confront active shooters as soon as possible, not to wait for backup, he said.
“This is what current practice is,” Piepmeier said. “ … Waiting for backup is going to cost lives, and in almost every case, if you confront the shooter, the killing of civilians will stop.”
Was Walmart store management aware of the situation as it unfolded?
To some extent, apparently so. Piepmeier said police officers entered the Walmart store at 8:26 p.m. and made their way toward Crawford III.
“A number of people in the store noticed him (Crawford), talked to people in the store about him,” Piepmeier said. “One of the store clerks actually called a manager to report that there’s was a guy walking around with a rifle.”
” ‘I don’t know if it’s real or not, but I’m afraid it might cause a panic,’ ” Piepmeier said, apparently conveying the questions a store clerk had about Crawford after seeing him. ” ‘Somebody better get to him and tell him to put it away.’ “
Added the prosecutor, “The Walmart people were in the process of doing that when the police arrived.”
A Walmart spokesman declined to elaborate Wednesday.
“I think we would just defer to law enforcement, to the information they shared today,” spokesman Brian Nick said.
What happened when Crawford was shot?
An officer walked into the aisle where Crawford stood in the store’s pet foods section.
Beavercreek police say Crawford twice disobeyed commands. Two shots were fired at Crawford.
“You’ll see him go to the ground and then disappear,” Piepmeier said, reciting what is seen in the Walmart surveillance video. “We are also unsure whether he is even shot or not at that point. But he disappears. It’s like two seconds later, he reappears and is coming here. He dropped the gun at that point.
“He actually reappears, and he appears to be running back down this aisle,” the prosecutor continued. “The officer is only about five or 10 feet from him at that point. Even though he’s coming toward him, he does not fire additional shots. He’s got like a .28 magazine rifle at that point.
“So he fires two shots,” he added. “Mr. Crawford appears to fall on the ground, go around in the corner, the rifle is dropped, and then as the officer continues up this aisle, you’ll see Mr. Crawford reappear, but no further shots are fired.”
After the shooting, officers applied tourniquets to Crawford’s arms, Piepmeier said.
Crawford was shot through his left elbow and into his torso, damaging his liver, a “catastrophic” injury, Piepmeier said.
“It was not a survivable injury,” he said.
What is the status of Crawford’s toxicology report?
The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigations, which is overseeing the case, is expected to release the final report soon.
Will the U.S. Attorney become involved in the case?
Yes. The Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of Ohio, and the FBI’s Cincinnati office said Wednesday they will conduct an independent review of the “facts and circumstances” around the shooting.
“The Civil Rights Division, the United States attorney’s office, and the FBI have been monitoring the state’s investigation of this case,” spokeswoman Jennifer Thorton said. The agencies “will conduct a thorough and independent review of the evidence and take appropriate action if the evidence indicates a prosecutable violation of federal criminal civil rights statutes. This is an on-going investigation; therefore, the department can make no further comment on this case at this time.”
Michael Wright, who represents the Crawford family, said since the grand jury’s failed to indict the officers, “the Crawford family feels they have been victimized all over again, and once again request that the U.S. Department of Justice conduct an independent investigation.”
“He was murdered,” Wright said Wednesday.
“It is absolutely incomprehensible that Beavercreek police officer Sean Williams was not indicted for the unlawful killing of John H. Crawford lll,” he said. “It makes absolutely no sense that an unarmed 22-year-old man would be killed doing what any American citizen does every day: shopping at a Walmart store.
“The Crawford family is extremely disappointed, disgusted and confused. They are heartbroken that justice was not done in the tragic death of their only son.”
Were any charges considered for anyone besides police?
“We are not able to answer your questions as we are legally prohibited from releasing that confidential information,” said Julie Wilson, a spokeswoman for Piepmeier.
What are the officers’ attorney and the Dayton Unit NAACP saying reactions?
Vince Popp, attorney for the officers involved in the shooting, said in a statement: “I believe the grand jury’s decision, it’s absolutely the right decision, that the officers acted well within their training.”
Derrick Foward, president of the Dayton Unit NAACP, said, “The special grand jury in Greene County made the wrong decision. It’s a sad day in the history of Dayton. We will be calling for a full and complete investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice.”
What’s next?
Wright is planning a Thursday morning press conference.
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