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YOUNGSTOWN -- A Howland police officer who was involved in a shooting in Youngstown last year appears to have been cleared after a state investigation.
A report made available recently by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation explains what happened last October when Howland officer Keith Peterson, a member of the Mahoning Valley Critical Response Team, found Arthur Tyrone Mitchell in the attic of a Rush Boulevard home.
The Mahoning Valley Prosecutor's Office, upon review of the report, has determined categorically there is no cause to pursue charges against the officer.
Mahoning County Prosecutor Lynn Maro's letter, dated Sept. 15 and addressed to the chiefs of the Youngstown and Howland police departments, the head of the MVCRT and the head of the U.S. Marshals Service, identifies Peterson as the officer in question.
"Under the circumstances present, the response and actions of the Mahoning Valley Crisis Response Team and specifically the actions and response by Officer Peterson were appropriate and justified. I find the amount of force used was sufficient but no greater than necessary to respond to the immediate threat Arthur Mitchell posed to those present at the scene," Maro wrote.
Maro's letter states that all officer involved shootings are reviewed by her office and grand jury referrals are made only in cases where an officer's actions may be considered criminal in nature.
The BCI report, found on the Ohio Attorney General's website, states that Youngstown police responded to a burglary call at 4134 Rush and encountered Mitchell in the backyard, where gunfire was exchanged and Mitchell shot one Youngstown officer in the arm before fleeing.
The report states after clearing the immediate area around the house, police determined Mitchell may have fled into the home.
While Youngstown police were adjusting to the situation on the ground, the MVCRT heard about the incident over police radio during a training exercise nearby and responded. Peterson was among those on the team.
The SWAT unit entered and started to clear the house, room by room and floor by floor. In a second-floor bedroom, they found an attic access in the ceiling. They first tried to check the attic space with a drone, but it could not fly in the attic.
Peterson then used a handheld mirror to survey the area and was able to clear about 90% of the attic that way. The parts he could not clear were piles of fiberglass insulation.
At that point, Peterson decided to enter the attic and assess the piles. The first one yielded nothing, but when he pulled on a batt of insulation on the second pile, it felt stapled down. He pulled again, and the batt seemed to pull back.
As soon as Peterson yanked the insulation off of him, Mitchell began shooting. Peterson said he backed up, trying to retreat to the attic access hole, and fired at least six shots at Mitchell, who fired back at least once. He said he fired another shot and saw Mitchell fall.
The report states police then left the house. They first attempted to open negotiations, with no response. After a couple of hours, tear gas was deployed and then robotics were used to scan the attic again, where they discovered Mitchell was dead.
Police found more than one gun near Mitchell and at least one still in his hand, with his finger on the trigger.
The report also notes that following the confirmation of Mitchell's death, police received a call from a detective at the Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department in North Carolina. The detective said Mitchell was wanted on a warrant there for two counts each of robbery with a dangerous weapon and second-degree kidnapping, as well as one count of felony conspiracy.
During Peterson's interview, BCI asked if there was any way he could have avoided the use of lethal force in the encounter.
He said he had an obligation to ensure the attic was fully cleared, which put him in a narrow, wide open space with someone trying to shoot him. The images of the attic show that Peterson had nowhere to take cover in the several feet between the insulation pile where he found Mitchell and the attic access hole to which he retreated.
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