Man Killed in Officer-Involved Shooting in West Chester Township, Ohio

Police identified Lorenzo Miller, 39, as the man shot dead by officers responding to a 911 call in West Chester Township. The woman he held at knifepoint was treated and released from hospital.

Lorenzo Miller, 39, Shot Dead by Police After Holding Woman at Knifepoint in Ohio Apartment

Officers in West Chester Township, Ohio, shot and killed a man who was holding a woman at knifepoint inside an apartment on Zinnia Court late Thursday night, fox19.com reports.

Police responded at 9:50 p.m. to a neighbour's 911 call reporting a woman screaming inside a unit in the 9000 block of Zinnia Court. Upon arrival, officers spoke with both a man and a woman inside the apartment before forcibly entering the residence.

Body camera footage displayed at a press conference Friday by Colonel Brian Rebholz showed the male suspect holding a knife to the woman's neck inside the bathroom. Rebholz identified the man as Lorenzo Miller, 39, who was pronounced dead at the scene.

The woman was transported to UC Hospital West Chester with non-life-threatening injuries and has since been released.

Rebholz said at the press conference that Miller had a significant history of violent offences and was on parole at the time of the shooting.

Butler County Prosecutor Mike Gmoser addressed the incident in strong terms. "This is the third case I have seen during my 15-year tenure as prosecutor where video evidence unequivocally supports the use of legal force to save a victim," Gmoser said. "These officers met the highest expectations that the public has for their heroic service."

Gmoser added that his standing policy nonetheless requires all officer-involved shootings to go before a grand jury, regardless of how clear the justification may appear. "All cases of officer-involved shootings, regardless of how obvious the justification may be, still go before the Butler County grand jury," he said.

The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation was on scene overnight conducting an independent inquiry. Police requested the state-level investigation as a matter of standard procedure — a step also consistently recommended by Gmoser to ensure transparency in such cases.

The four officers involved, whose years of service range from three to twenty, have been placed on administrative leave in line with department policy.

Source: Google News MT — Crime (en)