LIBERTY — A Trumbull County grand jury has refused to indict a Liberty police sergeant who shot a suspect in a stolen car on Dec. 16, 2024, in the parking lot of Harbor Freight at the corner of Belmont Avenue and Goldie Road.

The suspect, Jason Cain, 31, died several days later.

The officer, who was not previously identified, was Sgt. George Bednar, according to a news release from the Trumbull County Prosecutor’s Office. The grand jury chose not to indict Bednar because it found the officer used a reasonable level of force for the situation, the release states.

Cain was shot just around 2:30 p.m. Dec. 16, 2024, after he began ramming police vehicles after they boxed him in because the Jeep Cherokee he was driving was reported stolen from a Walmart in Hermitage, Pa., several days before the shooting.

Liberty police were notified of the stolen vehicle in their jurisdiction by a Flock license plate camera system. The vehicle was found parked with Cain in the driver’s seat in the store parking lot, and Liberty police surrounded the Jeep to prevent a potential pursuit. The two officers who boxed in Cain were Capt. Ray Buhala, who is now the Liberty police chief, and Detective Robert Altier, the release states.

Shortly after their arrival, Bednar and three other officers — including one who was working security at a nearby bank — arrived on scene. Officers ordered Cain out of the vehicle, but he did not comply and instead revved his engine and put the SUV in reverse, striking the front of Buhala’s vehicle, the release states.

Bednar fired the first of his five gunshots, which struck the Jeep’s rear window. The Jeep then drove forward and struck a second police vehicle.

“As the Jeep continued forward, dash camera and body camera video showed that Sgt. Bednar walked behind the Jeep and fired four more rounds into the back window, which resulted in the driver, Jason Cain, being struck in the back of his head by a bullet,” the release states.

The Jeep then drove through the front of the Harbor Freight store. A woman passenger in the car with Cain was detained at the scene.

An investigation by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation determined that Bednar was the only one who fired his weapon. The investigation included interviews with five Harbor Freight employees — four of whom were in the store and one who was on break and sitting in her car, which was parked next to the vehicle Cain was driving.

The employee in her car said she saw officers approach with their guns drawn, so she crouched down inside her vehicle and told investigators she heard five to six gunshots and then saw the Jeep crash through the front of the store. The employees inside the store said once they saw the Jeep ram the first police cruiser, they all ran to the back of the store and could not provide much detail about the shooting, the release states.

The woman in the car with Cain told BCI investigators he had “borrowed” the Jeep from his ex-girlfriend, which he had done previously. She said the pair had been living in the vehicle for several days before the shooting happened, the release states.

She told investigators she and Cain were sitting in the car for about 10 minutes and discussed moving the car closer to a different store in the same plaza when police arrived. She said neither she nor Cain knew what was happening and she told investigators she believed Cain’s ex-girlfriend reported the Jeep stolen after he did not return it right away.

The passenger also told investigators that Cain’s hands were on the steering wheel and she heard “at least five” gunshots and thought Cain accelerated into the store because he was scared. It was after the Jeep went into the store that she realized he had been shot, the release states.

Several attempts were made to serve her with a grand jury subpoena to testify, but she did not respond to any of them, the release states.

Trumbull County Prosecutor Dennis Watkins stated in his news release that a vehicle is considered a deadly weapon when it is driven in a reckless manner with an intention to harm another person.

Bednar was placed on paid administrative leave while the shooting was investigated.

The autopsy performed on Cain determined he had illegal drugs in his system at the time of the shooting, the release states.