Sheriff: One person shot by Wyoming officer after burglary report
A man is in critical condition after investigators say two Wyoming police officers opened fire early Monday when the man almost struck an officer as he tried to flee the scene of a possible burglary.
A joint news release from the Wyoming Police Department and the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office said the shooting unfolded about 12:40 a.m. at an apartment building in the 300 block of Durrell Avenue.
Three Wyoming officers confronted two people in the rear of a residence who started to flee, the release said. "Commands were given but ignored," the release noted. Wyoming is a city of about 8,500 people located just north of Cincinnati.
One of the people, a man whose name has not been released, attempted to flee in a vehicle, nearly striking an officer, officials said. That prompted that officer and another Wyoming officer to fire at the driver.
The man was taken to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center and was listed in critical condition Monday morning. No additional information about the man or the second person at the apartment has been released.
Witness said car was headed towards officer
Darrick Moore witnessed the shooting on Monday morning from his home next to the four-unit apartment building. His account of what happened matched what the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Department reported.
He said when the officers arrived they tried to talk to the two people who were in the apartment, but the pair panicked and fled. He said police repeatedly told them to stop.
He said the man who got into a minivan and tried to cut through some grass to leave through a neighboring driveway.
Moore said he was “not sure if was intentional or deliberate,” but the driver was headed toward an officer as the shots were fired. After the shots were fired, he said the driver crashed into the building.
Moore said Wyoming police are very familiar with the apartment building. He and other neighbors have been working with the city for months to improve the situation there. Some of the apartments were recently closed, he said, but prior to that police would be there two or three times a day addressing conflicts between residents.
Few crimes in Wyoming
The city's police department, led by Chief Brooke Brady, employs 19 full-time officers, according to the city's website. Wyoming has a very low violent crime rate, averaging about three violent crimes a year, according to FBI data.
He and his neighbors believed that one of the apartments was being cleaned out after the death of a resident. Moore said it was his understanding no one should have been in that part of the building, especially at 12:30 a.m.
Moore said when police arrived on Monday the officers approached the situation calmly as they had done with other incidents at the apartment in the past.
The building is owned by Kogan Realty Enterprises since 1998. The Enquirer has requested reports about police runs to the building over the last year.
The sheriff's office is handling the investigation into the shooting.
The Enquirer has asked for bodyworn camera footage, dash camera footage, personnel files and other documents in connection with the shooting from the Wyoming Police Department and the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office.
The Enquirer will update this story as more information becomes available.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Wyoming police shooting: Man in critical condition
