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Lordstown officer justified in firing at store owner, prosecutor says
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
The Trumbull County Prosecutor’s Office will not present information to a county grand jury regarding the shots fired at Lordstown resident George Rafidi by Lordstown Police Detective Chris Bordonaro last October, the prosecutor’s office says.
A press release signed by Prosecutor Dennis Watkins says “there is nothing that could be presented to a grand jury because there were no crimes committed by anyone other than George Rafidi, who is now under federal indictment.”
Bordonaro, other local police officers and agents with the U.S. Marshals Service, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Department of Agriculture went to Rafidi’s house on Pleasant Valley Drive on Oct. 8 to serve a search warrant in connection with a food-stamp-fraud investigation involving Rafidi’s Breaden Market on Youngstown’s South Side.
Because Rafidi, 60, purportedly answered the door with a gun in his hand and pointed it at officers, he was charged in federal court with assaulting federal officers and brandishing a gun while doing so. He remains in federal custody.
But Bordonaro also fired four times in Rafidi’s direction when he purportedly saw Rafidi pointing his gun at other officers, officials said. The shots hit the door frame and missed Rafidi, Watkins said.
The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation investigated the matter and turned over details to the prosecutor’s office to determine whether Bordonaro’s actions were justified.
Bordonaro “acted in self-defense or in the defense of other officers when he fired his weapon upon an armed and aggressive suspect,” so his actions were justified, Watkins said in the press release.
The release said witness statements from the officers at the scene indicated that Special Agent Robert Springer of the U.S. Department of Agriculture knocked on the door, then said, “Police with a warrant,” loud enough for anyone in the house to hear, Watkins said.
Springer said he could see Rafidi in the house and observed him in a chair, then saw him stand up and pick up a handgun. Springer said he warned fellow officers of what he saw, then yelled, “George, put the gun down,” the release says.
Springer said Rafidi opened the door, cursed at the officers and pointed the gun at Springer, causing Springer to jump off the porch, injuring his shoulder as he fell.
Bordonaro, who was off the side of the porch, said after he heard Rafidi curse at officers, he yelled at Rafidi, “George, it’s Chris from the police department.” Bordonaro and Rafidi knew each other, Watkins said.
But Bordonaro saw Rafidi pointing the gun at officers, so he fired four times, with all four shots missing Rafidi, as Rafidi went back inside, Watkins said.
Rafidi said he was awakened by the knock at the door, officials said.
Rafidi told a BCI investigator he walked to the door with his gun because he thought there was a break-in, but he also told the investigator he recognized Lords-town police cars and other officers he knew in uniform, Watkins said.