Warren cop cleared in May shooting

Staff report

WARREN

A Trumbull County grand jury has decided not to charge a Warren police officer for a shooting in May in which he wounded a man wielding a shotgun.

A statement by county Prosecutor Dennis Watkins released Friday said that witness statements and physical evidence back up the version of events when city patrolman Adam Huffman shot Randall Bryant, 45, at a 1104 Harrison St. NE home late May 27 as Huffman was responding to a domestic-violence call.

Reports said Bryant had come through the front door of the home with a shotgun and was told to drop it twice before he was shot. When officers arrived, Bryant purportedly was holding his girlfriend at gunpoint inside.

In his statement, Watkins said Bryant was very evasive when interviewed by investigators and denied being in the doorway despite several witnesses who said he was there. He denied ever having the shotgun, again in contradiction to several witness statements. The statement said the shotgun also was tested for Bryant’s DNA and the tests came back overwhelmingly positive.

One witness even offered to testify on behalf of the officer, according to Watkins’ statement.

Bryant was indicted by a grand jury on two counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm, felonious assault on a police officer, possession of cocaine and two counts of assault. Tests showed that Bryant had cocaine and alcohol in his system at the time of the shooting.

The case was investigated by the state Bureau of Criminal Investigation.

Watkins said the investigation shows that Huffman was responding to an “ongoing violent situation and shot an armed and aggressive assailant in self defense.”