Trumbull County prosecutor’s office says police shooting of man in Hubbard was justified
The Trumbull County prosecutor’s office has ruled that the officers’ action in a Oct. 3, 2023, fatal shooting of a 55-year-old man in Hubbard Township was appropriate and justified.
Prosecutor Dennis Watkins’ staff, including Assistant Prosecutor Charles Morrow, investigated the actions of a Vienna Township police officer and an Ohio State Highway Patrol trooper who shot Shawn Thomas. Thomas had fled into a wooded area behind his residence armed with two shotguns.
Authorities were called to the Thomas home to investigate a domestic violence incident and a man threatening to harm others and himself.
Both officers shot at Thomas, the report stated, who was struck once in the chest about 10:30 p.m. He was pronounced deceased at St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital a few hours later.
State and federal law allows a law enforcement officer to use force in the discharge of his official duties, Prosecutor Dennis Watkins wrote.
“An officer in the performance of his duty as such … is a minister of justice and entitled to the peculiar protection of the law. Without submission to his authority there is no security and anarchy reigns supreme,” Watkins writes in quoting a finding in a case studied by the Supreme Court of Iowa.
Who helped in the investigation?
The prosecutor’s office received help from special agents from the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigations (BCI) in its investigation of the shooting.
The agents interviewed both officers who discharged their weapons as well as others at the scene of the shooting. Also reviewed were all available body-worn cameras from officers involved in the incident and other available surveillance video as well as related audio and 911 phone communications.
The postmortem drug screen revealed Thomas had a blood alcohol concentration of 0.207 when he was shot, as well as a number of prescription medications in his system. The Mahoning County Coroner’s Office ruled Thomas died of a “gunshot wound of the chest” and the manner of death was “homicide.”
“Looking at the totality of the circumstances surrounding this case, it is indisputable that (the officers) were justified in firing their weapons. Thomas clearly posed an immediate threat to the safety of the officers and others,” Watkins wrote.