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Judge bumps bond up to $2.5M for Damion McRae alongside 2 additional officer shooting charges

Judge bumps bond up to $2.5M for Damion McRae alongside 2 additional officer shooting charges
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CINCINNATI -- On Thursday morning, a Hamilton County judge increased bond for the man accused of shooting a Cincinnati police officer in Walnut Hills from $500,000 to $2.5 million.

The increased bond comes a day after Damion McRae was indicted on two additional counts -- attempted murder and felonious assault -- in connection to a second police officer who was at the scene, according to Julie Wilson with the Hamilton County Prosecutor's Office.

Officer Kenneth Grubbs and Officer William Keuper were responding to a report of domestic violence at an apartment building in the 2600 block of Gilbert Avenue before the shooting on March 12. The two arrived at the scene at 12:13 a.m., police said.

When Grubbs and Keuper entered the courtyard, Grubbs tried to stop McRae because he matched the description given by an emergency caller, Hamilton County Prosecutors Office Chief of Staff Triffon P. Callos said.

McRae then approached Grubbs with a concealed 9 mm rifle and opened fire about 6 feet away, Callos said. Grubbs was hit in the lower abdomen and fell to the ground.

Keuper's body cam recorded the encounter; the footage is violent and may be disturbing to some viewers:

 

Despite being wounded, Grubbs was able to return fire as he fell, Callos said. On the body camera footage, he can be heard telling McRae to put his hands up.

"He's an 18-year veteran officer," Cincinnati Police Chief Eliot Isaac said of Grubbs earlier this month. "He's very well trained, and here he proved his training. After being shot he was able to protect himself and his partner and communicate with the suspect."

Keuper, who was walking behind and to the side of Grubbs, saw his partner get shot and immediately returned gunfire at McRae, Callos said. McRae was hit and fell to the ground.

Keuper knelt down to cover his wounded partner in the courtyard, Isaac said.

Isaac said Grubbs fired 17 shots and Keuper fired eight rounds in the exchange. McRae fired one round "successfully" before his gun jammed.

“I really think it was an act of God that saved those two cops," Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters said when he released the body cam footage. "If that gun didn’t jam, we might be going to a couple of funerals now.”

MORE: Mayor: Shooting in Walnut Hills was an 'assassination' attempt on two officers

Deters said McRae was shot four or five times, twice in the head.

Emergency crews took both McRae and Officer Grubbs to University of Cincinnati Medical Center for treatment. Grubbs suffered serious but non-life-threatening injuries. McRae previously was indicted on one count of attempted murder, two counts of felonious assault, two counts of weapon under disability, one count of carrying a concealed weapon and one count of assault.

McRae was on probation at the time of the shooting, having pleaded guilty last fall to three counts of drug trafficking. Cost-cutting by Ohio's corrections system is to blame, Deters said.

 

"There is a lot of people that should share blame in this -- that he's even out on the street -- and it starts, frankly, with some state laws that were passed, that on these low-level felonies, the judge is urged not to send them to penitentiary," Deters said.

If convicted of all charges, McRae faces more than 20 years in prison.

"I can tell you this, that guy is going to jail for the rest of his life," Deters said.