HAMILTON, Ohio -- The Butler County Coroner’s Office and the Hamilton Police Department on Monday released the names of the officer and the suspect involved in Saturday’s fatal shooting.
Officer Steven McFall, 41, shot and killed Michael Wilson-Salzl, 24, at about 5:30 p.m. Saturday in the parking lot of Knollwood Crossing apartments, police said, after Wilson-Salzl engaged in a “confrontation” with the McFall while carrying a butcher knife.
McFall was responding to reports of a shooting at the apartment complex when Wilson-Salzl approached him with a "large, fixed-blade knife," according to Hamilton Police Chief Craig Bucheit.
Bucheit said there were no signs of the initial shooting reported to police, and the details surrounding that call are under investigation.
McFall responded to the call alone because he was the only officer available, Bucheit said, and there were no other officers on the scene when McFall fired his weapon.
McFall was not wearing a body camera at the time of the shooting, but his cruiser did have a camera.
“I’m not sure what, if any, video there is,” Bucheit said. “He would also have had a microphone on, so they’re (investigators) going to retrieve that information.”
Antwan Roland lives in the apartment complex. He said he was playing video games with his kids when he heard three shots.
"I look out the window and I just happened to see a white guy on the ground with his arms forward straight out like he was in pain,” Roland said. “It looked like after three shots and the officer with his gun over him telling him to turn around."
Roland said Wilson-Salzl was wearing a black bandana around his face. Other neighbors said Wilson-Salzl demonstrated erratic behavior in the past, but no one was sure what transpired this time.
Shondrell Aldridge was at the complex Saturday visiting her mother.
"I witnessed the body laid out on the yard for several hours,” Aldridge said. “I witnessed the emotions that the people of the community had considering that this is something that just does not happen in this neighborhood.”
Roland also said the apartment complex is typically quiet.
"There's no drama out here," Roland said. "I've been out here for like two years and and I ain't heard nothin'. And then for three shots to ring out in front of my window it was like, ‘Wow what the heck is going on?’”
The results of the investigation will go to the Butler County prosecutor and grand jury, who will determine McFall will face any charges. Several police departments are involved in the investigation, Bucheit said.
McFall has worked for the Hamilton Police Department for 17 years, and he has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.
