POLICE INVOLVED SHOOTING

Posted on 9/15/2016

Defendant: POLICE INVOLVED SHOOTING

Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O’Brien provided the following statement regarding the shooting death of Tyree King, where on duty Columbus Police Officer Brian Mason discharged his service firearm near the corner of South 18th Street and East Capital Street last night:

 I join with Mayor Ginther, Safety Director Pettus and Chief Jacobs in expressing concern over the loss of the life of a 13 year old and extend condolences to both the family and friends of Tyree King.

 Chief Jacobs as well as the primary Detective have discussed this incident with me and I fully support the release of limited information to the public in the interests of transparency, including the image of the replica BB gun that was recovered at the scene. The Columbus Police are conducting an investigation of the circumstances surrounding this shooting death using established procedures that we all expect to be thorough and complete. Until all interviews are done and other evidence collected, no final judgments should be made. A comprehensive investigation of the facts must be completed and then reviewed under the existing policy that all police shootings are automatically presented to the grand jury.

Since 1980 all police shootings have been presented to the Grand Jury for independent review and that body makes the final decision as to whether charges should be filed.  Moving forward this office will continue to monitor the incident and the Chief has advised that she will update this office if needed during the investigation. If anyone has information about this incident they should call the Columbus Police at 614-645-4624.