Friday, August 17, 2018
Staff report
NILES
The Trumbull County Prosecutor’s Office said Thursday no charges will be filed after officers fired at a man who pointed an airsoft gun at them in April during a domestic-violence call at a Vienna Avenue residence.
The man who was shot at by police, Eric Gladhill, 45, was not hit. He was recently sentenced to 18 months in prison on a domestic violence call for the incident.
Police were called April 9 to the home by Gladhill’s wife, who said she was hiding in a closet, and he was threatening her. When police arrived, an officer saw Gladhill point a weapon at a fellow officer and shots were fired.
Gladhill eventually was arrested without incident and police discovered the weapon was an airsoft gun.
A news release from Prosecutor Dennis Watkins said that the weapon Gladhill had looked like a real gun and the decision to shoot to protect a fellow officer was “reasonable under those circumstances.”