CLEVELAND, Ohio - The March shooting death of a Cleveland man by city police officers was justified, the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office has concluded.
A news release made public late Tuesday stated that the prosecutor's office reached its conclusion after reviewing footage captured by police body cameras.
Four officers were involved in the March 11 fatal shooting of 64-year-old Theodore Johnson. Johnson had fired at police officers that night, hitting one officer in his protective vest.
The case was also investigated by the Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Department, and presented to a grand jury, which concluded that charges were not appropriate.
Prosecutor Timothy J. McGinty sent a letter Tuesday to Cleveland Police Chief Calvin Williams regarding his conclusion.
"The shooting was reasonable and necessary," McGinty wrote in the letter. "The Officers in fact showed remarkable restraint and went above and beyond their duty to seek a peaceful end to a situation that would likely have been deadly to at least one officer were it not for his ballistic vest."
According to the prosecutor's office, Johnson's wife, Juliette Johnson went to the Fourth District police station that night to report that her husband had been drinking and was waving a gun around, threatening her and their landlady.
Police went to the couple's home on Ottawa Avenue and were let into the Johnson's upstairs unit by the landlady. They headed up the stairs calling out "police" as they went. According to the prosecutor's office, Johnson jumped out of his apartment and fired two shots at Officer David Muniz, hitting him once in his vest. Another bullet traveled through a window and hit the wall of a home next door.
Muniz then headed downstairs, where several other officers had taken up defensive positions. Johnson also went downstairs with his gun in his hand. According to the prosecutor's office, officers then asked Johnson to drop his gun, but following a brief standoff he told them, "I'm shooting. I'm dying."
Johnson then raised his gun at the officers, at which point officers Timothy Hannon, Michael Surtz, John Jarrell, and John Lyons all fired at Johnson.
In the letter, McGinty said the body camera videos show the "evidence is indisputable" that the shooting was justified, and that it's clear Johnson "attempted to murder a police officer and then was bound and determined to be killed by the police."
Johnson was on probation following a domestic violence conviction involving his 12-year-old granddaughter at the time of the shooting. He has a lengthy criminal history, including multiple felony convictions dating to 1972.