State nears end of probe into deadly shooting involving Moraine police

The state has among the last pieces of evidence it needs to complete its criminal investigation into how a Dayton man died in an October shooting involving Moraine police officers.

The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation said Tuesday it has the final autopsy report on 23-year-old Jamarco McShann, who died from “multiple shotgun and gunshot wounds” after a confrontation with Moraine officers John Howard and Jerry Knight in the early-morning hours of Oct. 20, according to the Montgomery County Coroner’s Office.

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“The investigation is still considered open; however, when it is complete, BCI will turn over its findings to the Montgomery County Prosecutor’s Office,” according to Dorcus Jones, a spokeswoman for the Ohio Attorney General’s Office, which oversees BCI.

The AG’s office has said it will be up to the prosecutor’s office to pursue any criminal charges against Howard or Knight.

A coroner’s office spokesman said Tuesday he could not specify how many wounds McShann suffered or their locations.

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The office could not release the final report — including results of the toxicology report — on McShann because the case remains under criminal investigation, said Mike Fox, an administrative assistant.

Howard and Knight were placed on paid administrative leave the day of the shooting, which is standard protocol in such cases. The Moraine Police Division requested BCI oversee the criminal investigation.

Howard and Knight were re-activated for duty Nov. 20 “based on the known facts” and after the officers passed psychological evaluations, Moraine Police Chief Craig Richardson has said.

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Attempts to reach Richardson Tuesday were unsuccessful.

Richardson has said Howard and Knight fired 10 shots combined after McShann failed to comply with commands and “presented a handgun and pointed it at the officers, ignoring orders to drop the gun.”

But a lawyer representing the McShann family has a different viewpoint. McShann was “unjustifiably shot and killed” and the officers’ return to work is “not acceptable,” said Andrew M. Stroth, managing partner with Action Injury Law Group.

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Richardson has said Moraine’s first deadly shooting involving police occurred after Howard and Knight had responded separately to a report of a suspicious person in a vehicle at an apartment complex off Pinnacle Road.

“This was not something that occurred quickly,” Richardson has said. “This was a slow, methodical process the responding officers used.”

Howard, 47, is a 19-year veteran of the department and has been a firearms instructor. Knight, 23, was hired in March 2015.

Both have consistently earned strong semi-annual performance reviews, according to an analysis of more than 200 pages in the officers’ files obtained through a public information request by this news organization.

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