MIDDLETOWN, Ohio — The officer who shot and killed a man in Middletown on Christmas Eve will not be charged with a crime after a grand jury ruled the shooting justified.
Middletown police said officers responded to reports of two men fighting at an apartment in the 1000 block of Park Lane just after 7 p.m. on Dec. 24, 2024.
When police arrived, they knocked on the apartment door and identified themselves as officers. Police said Christopher Gorak, 50, opened the door with a firearm and pointed it at the officers. According to the Butler County Prosecutor's Office, an officer shot Gorak four times.
"In three-tenths of one second that threat of deadly harm was responded to with lethal force by the officer closest to the door and who had announced police presence resulting in the death of Mr. Gorak by four shots being fired by the officer," Butler County Prosecutor Michael Gmoster said in a press release.
Watch video from the scene of the shooting below:
No officers were injured.
An autopsy determined Gorak was heavily intoxicated with alcohol and tested positive for marijuana. The entire event was captured on police body cameras and the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) conducted an independent investigation, according to the Butler County Prosecutor's Office.
Gmoser said in a release the grand jury considered all relevant facts and history and determined that no indictment against any involved officer should be issued.
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