911 caller won’t be charged in Ohio Walmart police shooting

Associated Press

A 911 caller won’t be charged for reporting a man waving a gun in an Ohio Walmart store before police fatally shot the shopper, who’d picked up an air rifle from a shelf, a special prosecutor said Monday.

The decision was made by Mark Piepmeier, the prosecutor who presented the shooting case to a grand jury. The grand jury concluded the August 2014 shooting of John Crawford III at the Beavercreek store, near Dayton, was justified.

The grand jury had authority to bring charges against 911 caller Ronald Ritchie if merited but didn’t, Piepmeier said in a Monday court filing outlining his findings that no charges are warranted.

“I don’t find any evidence that Mr. Ritchie knew any of the information he was providing was false,” Piepmeier wrote.

The Hamilton County prosecutor’s office, where Piepmeier is chief assistant prosecutor, said he wouldn’t comment further.

A group of people who took interest in the shooting had used an obscure law to push for prosecution of Ritchie, who told investigators he thought the firearm was real.

The law allows private citizens to make complaints for review by a judge, who can then refer them for further review by a prosecutor. A Fairborn Municipal Court judge reviewed the filings, including surveillance video synchronized with the 911 recording, and ruled there was sufficient evidence to prosecute Ritchie for misdemeanor making false alarms.

One of the filers, Dayton-area activist Bomani Moyenda, said he thinks the prosecutor ignored video segments that indicate Crawford wasn’t doing what the caller described at certain moments.

“There’s just no semblance of justice anywhere at all,” said Moyenda, who said he’ll consider whether there are any other legal avenues to push the matter.

Another filer said he was appalled by Piepmeier’s ruling.

“I don’t know how anybody could view that videotape and believe the caller was acting in good faith,” said Roi Qualls, a software engineer from Yellow Springs. “He said things that just weren’t true.”

Ritchie, of Riverside, was the only person to call 911 before shots were fired at the store. He reported a man walking around waving an apparent rifle and “pointing it at people.” The next day, he told authorities the man didn’t point the firearm but swung it around.