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Click here to read the full release from Trumbull County Prosecutor Dennis Watkins.
GIRARD -- "I don't think (officer Justin) Leo even saw it coming," is what his partner, Girard patrolman Mathew Jamison told a state investigator about the night of Oct. 21, when Leo was shot outside a home at 408 Indiana Ave.
Leo was reaching for his notepad when he was shot "point blank in the chest" through a screen door by Jason Marble, who was shot and killed when Jamison returned fire, according to Trumbull County Prosecutor Dennis Watkins, who released details of the shootings on Tuesday.
"These shots were at point blank range, were unprovoked, and all made in an ambush fashion when at the time officer Leo was engaging in conversation … ," a release from Watkins states.
Jamison fired three shots at Marble then moved to cover to call for help. Three Girard officers arrived and Jamison returned to Leo, who the report states was not wearing a protective vest.
"Jamison stayed with him (Leo) until the ambulance came," the release states. "Jason Marble was lying inside the front doorway deceased."
Leo, 31, died later at St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital.
Watkins ruled the shooting of Marble was in self-defense and is a justifiable homicide.
"Officer Jamison had no other choice but to protect himself and his fellow officer, Justin Leo, under the circumstances by shooting Marble in self-defense and in the defense of others," the release states. "Without any doubt, officer Mathew Jamison's heroic quick action saved lives."
The report provides details into the events as they unfolded Oct. 21 leading to the shootings and into Marble's past drug use and demeanor the day and night of the shooting.
Leo's father, David, said he is aware the release was made public Tuesday, but he did not see it and did not want to comment.
Mayor James Melfi said Tuesday was an emotional day.
"At the time of that tragedy, the loss of Justin, I said it was the worst day in Girard's history, and it still is … we lost a good young man," Melfi said.
The shooting
At 10:01 p.m. police received a call of a drunken man shooting a gun inside the home on Indiana Avenue. Leo and Jamison, who were at the station at the start of their shifts, responded in separate vehicles, arriving about six minutes later.
As they approached the house, a man was seen in the kitchen area. As they came to the front door, they were met by a man, Marble, standing in a dark entryway.
Leo began a conversation with Marble, explaining why he and Jamison were there. They asked permission to come inside, but were denied, and then asked Marble for identification.
Leo, holding a flashlight, placed it on his belt and was reaching for a notepad when Marble drew a gun and fired, the release states.
"That face … you train for something that's evil … but no emotions … he just raised the gun and went like this … I don't think Leo even saw it coming," is what Jamison told investigators of Marble's demeanor at the time of the shooting, according to the release.
Day and night on Oct. 21
Angela Diana, Marble's girlfriend, told police he was at the house all day doing yard work. She brought Marble's friend, Adam Fletcher, to the house about 4:30 p.m., left for her sister's home and returned about 6:30 p.m. She found Marble and Fletcher working in the yard and drinking beer.
After dinner, "Jason started getting mean and snapping at everyone," Diana told investigators, the release states.
Later in evening, Diana, who was in a relationship with Marble for more than two years, confronted him about a strange contact she found in his cellphone, concerned the person was Marble's drug dealer.
She told police Marble struggled with alcohol and drug addiction and had been clean for a while, but recently began to show signs of being back on heroin. Money issues, Diana told investigators, is what led her to believe he was using again, the release states.
During the argument, after Diana told Marble she wanted him out of the house, "he went ballistic … started calling me names … then he comes out of the bedroom with a handgun and the AR-15," the report states.
Diana told investigators Marble began to wave the gun in a threatening manner and fearing for her safety, she left with her two children to her sister's home in Youngstown.
Later, Diana is contacted by a friend who tells her Fletcher contacted her and said Marble is shooting guns in the house. This is when Diana heads back home and calls Girard police on the way.
"As she gets to the house, she hears gunfire and sees police in her front yard," the release states.
State investigation
According to the release, the investigative report from the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation revealed three .45 caliber casings found in the front yard of the home were fired from Jamison's gun. The bullet recovered from Marble and two from a wall inside the home were fired by the same gun.
The bullet recovered from Leo during the autopsy was from a .40 caliber Taurus Millennium, which Diana bought Nov. 8, 2015, at a gun show in Niles. Also, three shell casings found in the kitchen and two bullets that struck the bathroom toilet were from the same gun, the release states.
Also in the house was a Bushmaster AR-15, which, the release states, Diana had tried to buy from a gun shop in Girard around Christmas 2016 as a gift for Marble. The shop owner, Maynard Moore, told investigators he agreed to let Diana make payments, however, before the gun was paid off, he closed the business. Because the gun was not fully paid for, it was transferred to his name, and when Diana paid off the weapon, he gave her the gun, but didn't do the paperwork on it.
A message for a number believed to be Moore's seeking comment was not returned.
The AR-15 was found on the dining room table. It was fully loaded.
The release states Leo was shot twice, once in the chest and once in the left middle finger. The shot to his chest struck his heart, stomach and spinal cord, the release states.
Marble was shot three times -- once in the left arm, one in the left chest and once in the left chest and lower left neck, the release states.
Toxicology results show Marble's blood alcohol level was 0.23 percent and he had high levels of fentanyl, a powerful painkiller, in his system.
The lab director in Summit County, when contacted about the high levels of fentanyl, said the they "suggest that he (Marble) apparently was very tolerant of fentanyl and indicated a likely history of opioid drug use," the release states.
Watkins wrote, "These officers didn't know, nor could they have known, that Jason Marble was an angry, unhinged, drug / alcohol infested criminal bound of his own self-destruction and harming others who got in his way."
Marble's drug use and mental state
Diana told investigators on Jan. 25 that previously Marble and two other people bought heroin in Youngstown and snorted it. Marble overdosed and needed two doses of Narcan to revive him, the release states.
Narcan is a drug that reverses the effects of an opioid overdose.
Diana told police Marble suffered from depression, but didn't take prescription drugs to care for the illness.
"He used painkillers for a work injury and would buy Oxycontin off the street for $30 a pill," the release states. "She said the pill habit became so bad he switched to heroin because it was cheaper."
There was a family-related incident involving Marble's daughter that put him into a deeper depression, Diana told police.
In July 2015, Marble was found unconscious in a van on Colonial Drive in Liberty. Police removed him and worked to revive him until firefighters arrived and gave him Narcan, the release states. He had a hypodermic needle in his pants pocket.
"Marble told police he ingested an unknown amount of Vicodin," the release states.