Man in critical condition after being hit by one or more bullets from Warren officer

By Ed Runyan

runyan@vindy,com

WARREN

Randall E. Bryant, 45, is in critical condition at St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital with one or more gunshot wounds from a Warren police officer after emerging from a house on Harrison Street Northeast carrying a shotgun.

The unidentified Warren officer Wednesday night “ordered [Bryant] to show him his hands and to drop the weapon,” Police Chief Eric Merkel said Thursday during a press conference.

“The officer gave him another warning to drop the weapon. The officer then fired his service weapon at the suspect, striking him,” Merkel said. The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation is handling the investigation.

The officer was not identified Thursday. He was expected to be identified this morning, Merkel said, per department policy.

Bryant underwent surgery Thursday morning at St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital, but Merkel said he didn’t know whether Bryant’s injuries were life-threatening, and he didn’t know where Bryant was shot or how many times. Bryant was taken into custody shortly after the shooting.

Ambulance personnel already were at the scene when the gunfire erupted, and they attended to Bryant and took him to ValleyCare Trumbull Memorial Hospital before his transfer to Youngstown.

Ambulance personnel were there because a woman from the 1104 Harrison address called 911 at 11:32 p.m., saying Bryant had just beat up her daughter, 41, who lived at the house with Bryant.

“My daughter’s boyfriend just beat her up all over her face,” the woman said, telling a dispatcher Bryant had left in his pickup truck and “probably won’t” come back “because I’m armed. I have a [concealed-carry] permit.”

Ambulance workers and a police officer were both dispatched to the address, at the corner of Harrison and Charles Street, but Bryant came back a short time before the ambulance and officer arrived.

The ambulance company reported Bryant was now inside the house and was pointing a gun at his girlfriend.

The officer learned Bryant was inside the house when he arrived, and he was waiting for backup officers to arrive when Bryant came out of the house with the gun, police said.

According to police radio traffic, the officer got behind a tree. The shooting took place about that time.

Per policy, the officer is on paid administrative leave while the investigation is being carried out, Merkel said. Six BCI agents came to Warren within an hour to start the probe. The Warren Police Department also is conducting an internal investigation “to ensure the policies of the Warren Police Department were followed,” Merkel said.

The U.S, Department of Justice was notified of the shooting, Merkel said. The city and DOJ entered into an agreement for making changes several years ago after the department was found to have carried out unconstitutional policing in the past.

Bryant’s girlfriend was treated but not admitted at a local hospital for an “apparent minor injury,” a police report said.

Bryant is not allowed to possess any firearm, Merkel said, because of a felony conviction in 2003 in Trumbull County for aggravated assault. He was sentenced to 17 months in prison.