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Details of 2015 Warren shooting are instructional for gun owners, trainer says
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
A report from the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation into a shooting on Harrison Street Northeast late May 27, 2015, paints a picture of a home in chaos – and a concealed-carry permit holder failing to follow a basic firearm rule.
The report says Warren Patrolman Adam Huffman fired three times at Randall Bryant, now 46, after Bryant came through the front door of the house and raised his weapon toward the officer. Bryant was hit twice after the officer commanded him twice to put down the weapon.
Bryant at the time shared the house with his girlfriend and her mother.
Bryant last week was sentenced to six years in prison for felonious assault on a police officer and other offenses.
But the lengthy BCI report, released after Bryant’s sentencing, says Bryant easily could have been killed or wounded a short time earlier by his girlfriend’s mother, Leona Jarrett, now 60, who pointed a handgun at Bryant just after he walked into her house. She also owned a shotgun.
Jarrett already had seen the injuries Bryant had inflicted on her daughter, Julie Tenney, 41, that evening and had called 911 by the time Bryant walked into her house. Her daughter’s face was bloody and bruised from Bryant’s assaulting her in the back seat of a car after they left a birthday party in Warren, the report said.
Jarrett told a 911 dispatcher: “I have a CCW [permit for carrying a concealed weapon]. If he comes here, I am going to shoot him.”
Soon afterward, Bryant walked in the back door of Jarrett’s house. Tenney and Tenney’s friend Dawn Bretzik, 43, also were in the home.
“Dawn stated that as soon as Randall walked into the residence, Leona pointed a gun at Randall. Dawn stated that [Jarrett] told [Bryant] to “get the [deleted] out or she was going to shoot him.”
Bryant replied, “You’re going to shoot me, Mom. You’re going to shoot me.” Bryant walked straight at Jarrett, and Jarrett “put the gun into [Bryant’s] chest” but didn’t fire. Bryant took the gun from Jarrett after a struggle.
Jarrett and Bryant fell over a table, then Tenney jumped on Bryant’s back. Through it all, Bryant possessed Jarrett’s handgun, and Jarrett left the home to be treated in the back of an ambulance, leaving her daughter and Bretzik inside with Bryant.
When Huffman arrived – he was alone because other officers were handling another call involving a gun – he spoke outside with Bretzik, who told the officer about the handgun, which at that point had been handed to her by Bryant.
Bretzik told the officer Bryant had said earlier he wanted “suicide by cop.” The officer and Bretzik were in front of the house, and Bretzik was standing behind the officer when they both heard loud screaming coming from Tenney from inside the house. Moments later, Bryant came through the front door with Jarrett’s shotgun in his hand. After being hit, Bryant retreated inside and was taken into custody.
Longtime gun owner and firearms instructor Lynn Parker of Austintown says there are several standard rules new gun owners are told. Among them is this: “Never draw your firearm if you don’t intend to use it.”
In a situation such as the one Jarrett faced, she needed to decide to do one of two things: Leave the scene and get everyone else away, or use the weapon.
“It’s hard to shoot someone, you know,” Parker said.
But, “If you pull it and not use it, they can take if off of you and use it on you.” They also could use it on anyone else there, he said.
Parker said the key to being able to fire a gun in that situation is practice.
When people shoot at a practice range, the targets are in the shape of a person. That’s to reinforce the idea that if you are going to draw your weapon, it’s to shoot a person, Parker said. Practicing regularly reinforces that point.
He practices shooting his weapon a couple times per month, but most gun owners don’t, Parker said.
Another challenge is that Ohio changed the CCW requirements last year, reducing the number of hours of training required for a license from 12 to eight, giving instructors less time to talk to students about times when it’s appropriate and not appropriate to pull a gun.
A gun trainer from Templar Training Group of North Lima, who goes by the name Baron, said the amount of training required for a CCW permit is “just enough to make you dangerous.” He agrees with Parker that practice is a key to being able to pull the trigger when it is warranted.
Parker said he tries to offer students suggestions for how to avoid situations in which he or she would have to draw a weapon, such as keeping a light post, garbage can or other object between you and someone you perceive to be dangerous.
Other suggestions are keeping car doors locked and making a right-on-red turn if you feel threatened at an intersection. At home, keep a light on.
“I think people have the misconception that when you draw the weapon, they are going to run away,” Parker said. “There’s always going to be the one who’s not going to run away.”
A BCI investigator asked Jarrett whether her intent was to shoot Bryant when she pointed her handgun at him, and she replied, “I didn’t want to,” adding, “I just wanted him to get out of the house.”
The number of new CCW licenses issued in Ohio rose in 2015 to the second-highest level in the past five years, according to statistics released recently by the Ohio Attorney General’s office.
Parker said some people carry a gun only when they travel or go somewhere they perceive to be dangerous. Sometimes women will get a weapon because of “nasty boyfriends,” he said.
“Terrorism is going insane, and people are becoming more violent because of drugs,” he said. ”I think that’s what scares a lot of people” into getting a CCW license.