CINCINNATI — An 89-year-old man remains in the hospital after he was shot by an officer during what began as a welfare check at his home in Madisonville Tuesday afternoon.
During a press briefing, Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval said both the Citizens Complaint Authority and Cincinnati police will run parallel investigations into the shooting, as is procedure.
Interim Police Chief Adam Hennie said the shooting began as a welfare check called in by a VA home nurse who could not make contact with one of her patients.
He said the nurse told police she made sure the man was aware of her visit the day prior, but could not get ahold of him when she arrived at his home on Haley Avenue at around 12:45 p.m. Tuesday. She eventually called his daughter, who asked for a welfare check.
You can see the entire press briefing, including the video provided by police, here:
Police attempted to knock on the man's front and back doors, looking through the windows to see if there were any issues or distress, when they arrived at around 2 p.m. When they could not make contact, they called the fire department to breach the back door.
Once officers were able to get into the back door, they heard the man and asked him to open the front door. They attempted to once again knock on the front door, but the man did not respond.
Video shows that when the officers went back to the back door, the man was standing with a gun pointed.
"Sir, can you put your firearm away? It's the Cincinnati police," the first officer who saw him can be heard saying.
Officers continue to ask the man to put the gun away.
"This officer was begging this person to drop their firearm," Hennie said.
He doesn't, eventually walking out of the doorway and pointing his gun at the officer.
Video shows the officer then firing at the man, hitting him in the leg.
Hennie said the man was taken to the hospital, where he is stable. He has not been named as charges have not been filed at this time. Hennie said a look at the man's age, his medical history and more will determine if any charges will be filed.
When asked whether this would be considered a suicide-by-cop or a confused elderly man, Hennie said he "(wishes) I knew that right now."
"I think everyone ... could understand what the family is going through, and you could also probably understand what the police officer is going through," Hennie said.
Police provided us with unedited footage of the shooting. Once we receive that video and redact some graphic parts, we will share it.
