John Crawford III Case: Feds Announce No Charges for Officer in Fatal 2014 Shooting

CINCINNATI — Federal authorities announced on Tuesday they have ended their investigation of the fatal police shooting of a black man in a Walmart store, concluding there wasn’t enough evidence to charge the white officer who killed him. The officer shot John Crawford III on Aug. 5, 2014, after police responded to an emergency call about someone waving a rifle in a store in Beavercreek, a Dayton suburb. Police said Crawford, who was 22, didn’t obey commands to drop what they learned later was an air rifle he was carrying from a store shelf. A special grand jury declined to indict anyone, and the Department of Justice then said it would probe possible civil rights violations. U.S. Attorney Benjamin Glassman and the Department of Justice said Tuesday they found insufficient evidence to pursue charges against Beavercreek police Officer Sean Williams, who fired the fatal shot. They said investigators analyzed store surveillance video using resources at the FBI laboratory in Quantico, Virginia, interviewed witnesses and used an independent crime scene reconstruction expert in their review.