HAMILTON, Ohio -- An officer shot and killed a man who confronted him with a knife on Forest Park Drive Saturday afternoon, according to Hamilton Police Chief Craig Bucheit.
The officer responded to a report of a shooting at Knollwood Crossing Apartments at about 3 p.m. when a man with a “large, fixed-blade” knife confronted him in the parking lot, Bucheit said. The officer shot and killed the man during the confrontation.
Bucheit said there was no one injured in the initial shooting reported to police, and the details surrounding that call are under investigation.
The officer involved in the shooting responded to the call alone because he was the only officer available, Bucheit said, and there were no other officers on the scene when the officer fired his weapon.
Bucheit said the knife the suspect was carrying was described to him as a “butcher knife.”
The officer involved in Saturday’s shooting was not wearing a body camera, Bucheit said, but the officer’s cruiser has a camera.
“I’m not sure what, if any, video there is,” Bucheit said. “He would also have had a microphone on, so they’re (investigators) going to retrieve that information.”
The results of the investigation will go to the Butler County prosecutor and grand jury, who will determine if the officer will face any charges.
Watch Bucheit's press conference in the player below.
Police taped off a large area of the complex's parking lot to investigate Saturday afternoon, and the Hamilton Crime Scene Unit arrived later.
Hamilton Crime Scene unit just arrived. Body is laying in the grass in the middle of a large parking lot. @WCPO pic.twitter.com/EEfnv3mnLX
— Ally Kraemer (@AllyKraemer) April 22, 2017
Bucheit said several police departments are involved in the investigation, and identities of the officer and the suspect will be released in the coming days.
“There’s a family somewhere tonight who’s loved one isn’t coming home, so that’s a matter that we take very seriously,” Bucheit said. “That’s why it’s important that there’s a full, thorough and transparent investigation … it’s important that we know everything there is to know about what happened this afternoon.”
Francis Adu said he was getting out of his car when he heard shots ring out.
"I saw this gentleman with no shirt on, with a scarf around the face -- black scarf tied back -- and he walked towards the cop. So as soon as he took like two steps, then the shotgun went like ‘pow pow,’ and he fell,” Adu said.
