The witness who phoned police, ex-marine Ronald Ritchie, reportedly told 9-1-1 he saw Crawford “walking around with a gun in the store,” and that he was “loading it right now,” and pointing it at customers and children.
He “was just waving it at children and people. Items…. I couldn’t hear anything that he was saying. I’m thinking that he is either going to rob the place or he’s there to shoot somebody else,”*Ritchie said.
Innocent bystander*Angela D. Williams, 37, of Fairborn, also died following the shooting.
The county coroner said she was “apparently running from a dangerous situation inside the Walmart store when she collapsed. She was taken to Soin Medical Center where she died at 9:14 p.m.” In a sad twist, the mother of two was due to be wed on Saturday.
Police have yet to release footage of the shooting. Crawford’s friend, Bobbie Odneal, views that as highly suspicious.
John H. Crawford III. /*Dayton Daily News
“That’s my best friend. He was just literally at my house … the only thing I have of him is his hoodie. I just gave him his ID, and I’m waking up hearing his dead,” Odneal stated. “This is unreal, why they ain’t showing this video. I just want someone to back this up.”
“Preliminary indications are the officers acted appropriately under the circumstances,” Beavercreek police Chief Dennis Evers said.
“The officers gave verbal commands to the subject to drop the weapon,” Eversstated*at a press conference on Wednesday.. “The subject … was shot after failing to comply with the officers’ commands. The quick response of officers was instrumental in containing this situation and minimizing the risk to customers.”
Ohio’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) will review the Beavercreek police’s actions, however, Attorney General Mike DeWine says it could be*months before the investigation concludes, at which point the BCI’s results would be sent to the Greene County prosecutor for further review.
Both of the officers involved in the shooting, Sean Williams and David Darkow, are on paid administrative leave.
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