The Lorain County Prosecutor's Office announced Thursday that two North Ridgeville police officers did not use unreasonable force when a man was fatally shot during a confrontation on May 8.
The shooting
According to Prosecutor J.D. Tomlinson, the North Ridgeville Police Department was notified by the White County Sheriff's Office in Tennessee about a man named Jason Norris who killed his girlfriend and may be in the Northeast Ohio area in a stolen vehicle.
North Ridgeville PD used a Flock camera to determine that Norris was spotted in the area. After hearing about the situation, an officer went to a home in the 4800 block of James Road that he was familiar with, which had "ties to the state of Tennessee," Tomlinson said.
Another officer then went to the intersection of James Road and Paula Boulevard, parked his cruiser and went to the home.
Police identified Norris, who was standing in the driveway, along with another person who lived there.
Officers ordered both individuals not to move, which the resident complied with, but Norris ignored and went down the driveway.
Tomlinson said the officers identified themselves as police and continued to order the man not to move. Norris went to the stolen vehicle, opened the door and grabbed a handgun. He then turned towards one of the officers and fired a single shot, according to the prosecutor. That's when, Tomlinson said, the officers fired their service rifles at the man, and he was struck by a bullet.
After Norris collapsed on the ground, he was taken to a nearby hospital, where he later died.
In his review of the case, Tomlinson wrote that "Norris was attempting to kill these officers and he was clearly a danger to all of the North Ridgeville police officers stationed at the scene."
He continued, "The issue of whether Norris was actively resisting arrest at the time he was killed is clear. Indeed, he was attempting to shoot his way out, and this brief standoff ended with Norris' life."
'I'm upset. Disbelief. Sick.'
After the shooting, we spoke to Norris's grandmother, who told us she had no idea anything was wrong when Norris showed up unexpectedly at her home.
"I was in the house, and when they started shooting, I looked out the window and he was laying in the driveway," the grandmother said. "I'm upset. Disbelief. Sick."
She said a family member helped her piece together what happened.
"I called his brother in Tennessee, and he told me Jason had shot his girlfriend and that was her car he came up here in," said the grandmother. "I didn't think he'd ever hurt anybody, but you can't never tell."
