Officers named in Niles police shooting

Staff report

NILES

The police department has released the names of the two officers involved in a shooting earlier this month at the Royal Mall Apartments.

The officers are James Reppy and Christopher Mannella.

Killed in the shooting was Matthew Burroughs, 35. Reports said the officers were trying to get Burroughs to stop after he fled the municipal court building, and they fired at him because he accelerated toward them in a car he was driving, refusing to stop.

The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation is handling the investigation into the shooting.

Mannella has been on the force for 28 years. According to 21 WFMJ-TV, The Vindicator’s broadcast partner, Mannella was previously placed on leave in 2004 during the investigation into a different police-involved shooting.

In that case, Mannella, as well as then-Chief Bruce Simeone, were cleared of wrongdoing in the shooting death of James Fambro Wade.

Reppy has been an officer in Niles for six years and previously worked for the Trumbull County Sheriff’s Office.

The two will be on administrative leave until the investigation is completed, said Chief Jay Holland.