Body camera footage released Tuesday from an incident earlier this year in which a Cleveland officer was shot and a armed man was killed shows that police were justified in their use of deadly force.
Six police officers responded a residence on Ottawa Avenue the evening of March 11 to a report from 64-year-old Theodore Johnson's wife that the man was armed and threatened to kill her and their landlord, according to WKYC-TV.
The first body camera video shows Officers David Muniz and John Lyons ascend the back staircase of the duplex after identifying themselves as police where they were met by Johnson, who jumped out of his apartment and fired two shots.
Muniz was struck in the chest by one of the bullets, but luckily his bulletproof vest stopped it.
The second video shows the standoff inside the duplex that occurred as the officers plead with the man to drop his weapon.
Johnson repeatedly refused, telling the officers: "I'm shooting. I'm dying."
The man then raises his gun towards the officers who instantly open fire, fatally wounding him.
Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy J. McGinty concluded that the officers were justified in their use of deadly force when they shot and killed Johnson.
The body camera recordings were investigated by the Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Department, reviewed by the County Prosecutor's Office and presented to a Grand Jury.
"The evidence shows the Officers showed remarkable restraint and went above and beyond the call of duty to seek a peaceful conclusion," McGinty wrote. "These Officers are commended for responding with courage and for heroically fulfilling their duty to protect the public."
McGinty went on to say that since the police officers had their body cameras on and operating, the evidence was "indisputable."
