One of the videos released Wednesday shows Theodore Johnson shooting at the officers. One of the rounds struck the chest area of Patrolman David Muniz’s ballistic vest. Another video, recorded by Muniz’s body camera, shows a despondent Johnson telling officers that he wants to die.
Johnson says he doesn’t care. “Do what you do, man.”
Seconds later, Johnson raises the gun and the officers open fire.
The video was released by Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Tim McGinty the day after he announced that a grand jury had determined that the four officers were justified in using lethal force against Johnson on March 11.
Police went to Johnson’s home that night after his wife went to a police station and told officers that Johnson had threatened to kill her and their landlady.
Video from an officer’s body camera shows Johnson, 64, step out of a doorway and fire down at the officers as they climbed the steps toward his second-floor apartment. The officers retreat to the downstairs apartment and Muniz is heard yelling that he’d been hit.