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Two Royal Mall residents make videos in shooting aftermath
By Ed Runyan
NILES
Niles Police Shooting
Video
A neighbor of Matthew S. Burroughs who shot this video says it was taken from his apartment window moments after the Niles police gunfire that killed Burroughs ended.
Two people made cell- phone videos seconds after Niles police fired about six gunshots into the car of Matthew S. Burroughs, 35, killing him Wednesday in front of his Royal Mall apartment.
The videos show that at least five Niles police officers were at the scene. They were apparently trying to get into the car after the shots were fired.
About 40 seconds after Erica Baughman started filming, Burroughs’ car started moving forward, crashing into other cars in the lot.
Another Royal Mall resident who filmed the same sequence from another angle said he could hear police telling Burroughs to put his hands up after the gunfire stopped.
His video, shot from a second-floor window, showed at least five officers around the vehicle and at least four Niles police cruisers with their flashing lights activated behind Burroughs’ vehicle.
Niles Police Capt. John Marshall said Thursday two Niles police officers are on paid administrative leave as normal protocol for officer-involved shootings.
Jill Del Greco, public information officer for the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, said that agency is in charge of the investigation.
The goal of the investigation will be to determine what happened and what led to the shooting. She said it is too soon to know whether Burroughs had a gun or other weapon because BCI needs to obtain a warrant and then search the vehicle. She said that could take place this week or later.
“We have not searched the vehicle yet, so part of the investigation will be to determine if the individual had a weapon or not. And we will also look to determine if the vehicle itself was being used as a weapon.”
She said it is likely to take several months to complete. One of the last pieces of evidence is likely to be the final autopsy results, including analysis of Burroughs’ toxicology report.
Results of the BCI investigation will be turned over to the Trumbull County Prosecutor’s Office, she said.
When Del Greco was asked about an incident at Niles Municipal Court a short time before the shooting, an incident that Marshall said led to the shooting, she said BCI is not investigating that matter and referred The Vindicator to “local authorities.”
Marshall declined to provide a copy of a Niles police report regarding that incident but said it involved a male probation officer who had tried to take Burroughs into custody in the hallway outside of the court.
He said Burroughs fled from the officer, who told Niles police he was struck by Burroughs’ car when he tried to stop him.
The incident was sent out over police radios, leading road-patrol officers to respond to Burroughs’ apartment, where they located him in his vehicle. The shooting took place after that, Marshall said.
As for turning over that report to the public, Marshall said only that it is “part of the [BCI] investigation.”
The man shooting video said investigators removed Burroughs’ body from the car about 9:30 p.m. and towed his car away about 10 p.m.
Baughman said she doesn’t know what Burroughs did that led officers to shoot him, but an apartment maintenance worker told her he was near the rear of the apartment building where the shooting took place and did see it unfold.
An attempt to speak with the maintenance man Thursday afternoon was unsuccessful. A maintenance worker told The Vindicator no one is allowed to talk to the news media regarding the matter.
A probation officer was trying to arrest Baughman a short time before the shooting because of a warrant issued for his arrest in a Dec. 17 incident at his apartment. It involving a woman, 32, who said Burroughs had a gun in his hand and was threatening her, court records say.
The woman told Niles police Burroughs got angry about something she said, pointed a gun at her and pulled her by the shirt, causing her to fall down.
She said she was afraid for her life and that of her son. Burroughs dragged her outside, then threw clothes of hers from the apartment outside. She told police she was pregnant with Burroughs’ child, but Burroughs denied he is the father.
The woman said she and Burroughs were “friends only,” were not “spouses” but lived in the same home in separate bedrooms.
Burroughs was scheduled for a 2:15 p.m. pretrial hearing in Niles Municipal Court on Wednesday on the aggravated menacing and assault charges resulting from the incident.
Burroughs was sentenced to five years’ probation in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court in September 2014 after pleading guilty to a March 2014 Warren burglary.
In that case, a different woman reported Burroughs broke into her Peace Avenue home and assaulted her.
The woman said Burroughs was the father of her child. He came into her home without permission while she was taking out the garbage, she said.
When she came back in, he was waiting for her and struck her a couple times in the face, threw her to the floor and threatened to kill her. He then took items out of her purse, she said.
He also has a criminal record in Mahoning County. In 2013, he was convicted of heroin possession.
and was sentenced to one year of probation.