An incident involving a Twinsburg police officer who shot and killed an armed man suspected of killing his own son was ruled justifiable by the Summit County Prosecutor's Office.
An investigation conducted by Summit County Prosecuting Attorney Sherri Bevan Walsh gave an analysis of the incident on a ruling on whether Twinsburg Officer James Swope was justified in the shooting death of 76-year-old Charles Robert Shaw.
VIEW THE COMPLETE INVESTIGATION REPORT HERE
Walsh gave this conclusion of the analysis after the completion of the investigation:
ANALYSIS
Based on the above information, this office concludes that no Ohio statutes or federal laws were violated by Officer James Swope in the use of deadly force against Charles Shaw. Ohio law permits an officer to act in self-defense. An officer can use deadly force when he has probable cause to believe that a person poses a significant threat of serious physical harm to himself or to others. Charles Shaw obtained a revolver from his residence and shot his son two times prior to police arrival on scene. He was still armed and actively reloading the revolver when police arrived. Despite repeated orders from uniformed and armed Twinsburg police officers to drop the gun, Charles Shaw continued to load the revolver and then cocked it, readying it to fire. Charles Shaw then raised the weapon, pointing it at Officer Swope. At that moment, Officer Swope had a reasonable basis to believe he and the others around him were in imminent danger of serious bodily harm or death by the actions of Charles Shaw. Officer Swope was the closest in proximity to Charles Shaw and he was aware that Kellee Shaw was very near to the porch area. All these facts demonstrate that Officer Swope's use of deadly force against Charles Shaw was legally justified and, in the context of the risk posed by Charles Shaw at that moment, appropriate.
When police arrived on scene just before 6 p.m., officers found one man—identified as 55-year-old Scott Robert Shaw—lying on the ground with visible wounds, authorities say.
A woman who identified herself as Scott's wife said in a 911 call that her father-in-law shot Scott two times. The 911 dispatcher gave the woman CPR instructions as she waited for EMS to arrive.
Officers can be heard in the background of the 911 call telling Charles to put his hands up and drop the gun.
"Dad put it down!" the woman screams in the 911 call.
Police said Charles was standing close to the body, reloading the gun and cocking the hammer.
After several commands to put the gun down, Charles pointed the gun at officers, police said. Charles was shot by a 32-year-old officer who is a 3.5 year veteran of the department, according to officials.
