U.S. will review police killing of Ohio man carrying air rifle

An Ohio grand jury has declined to bring criminal charges against a police officer who shot and killed a 22-year-old man who was carrying an air rifle in a Wal-Mart store last month, and federal prosecutors are now reviewing the case.

Julie Wilson, a spokeswoman for the Hamilton County prosecutor’s office, told the Los Angeles Times that the investigation into the Aug. 5 killing of John Crawford III in Beavercreek was now closed.

The grand jury in Greene County rendered its decision around 11:30 a.m., Wilson said. Calls to the Beavercreek Police Department seeking comment were not immediately returned.

On Wednesday afternoon, the Department of Justice, the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Ohio announced that they would review Crawford’s death to determine whether his civil rights were violated.

Several officers entered the Wal-Mart in Beavercreek, a Dayton suburb, on Aug. 5 after they received calls about a man brandishing a weapon.

They found Crawford holding an air rifle, essentially a pellet gun, and the 22-year-old was shot and killed when he refused to put the weapon down, they said.

The shooting of Crawford, who was black, sparked a series of protests in Beavercreek, a city of nearly 46,000 where more than 88% of the population is white, according to census data.

Officials have not identified the officers or described their race or gender. The shooting took place just four days before the fatal shooting by a white police officer of Michael Brown, a black 18-year-old, in Ferguson, Mo., touched off nearly two weeks of unrest in the St. Louis suburb.

Beavercreek police have released dashboard camera footage that depicts their response from outside the store, but had refused to make public surveillance video from inside the store that showed the actual shooting, citing the ongoing investigation.

Michael Wright, an attorney for the Crawford family, has viewed the footage and claims it exonerates Crawford.

“We saw a young man in a Wal-Mart doing absolutely nothing wrong and getting shot by police,” Wright told protestors outside the store last month. “They could release the video and let the public see and make it clear that Mr. Crawford was not responsible for his own death.”

Relatives have called for a federal investigation into the matter, and federal prosecutors have told the family they are monitoring the case.

Ohio Atty. Gen. Mike DeWine, who appointed special prosecutors to handle the case because he has ties to Greene County, said Wednesday that he welcomed the federal review.

“Now that the state criminal investigation has finished, it is an appropriate time for the United States Department of Justice to look into whether any federal laws were violated during this shooting,” the statement said.

Representatives for Wright were not immediately available for comment on Wednesday.

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