SHELBY — A Crawford County grand jury determined that two Shelby Police officers acted in self-defense in the shooting death of a Tiro man in February.
According to Crawford County Prosecutor Matt Crall, the jury foundthe officers — Capt. David Mack and Sgt. Aaron Bushey — acted reasonably under the circumstances of the incident that resulted in the death of 27-year-old Aaron Fike.
The shooting occurred around 9:45 p.m. on Feb. 26 when three officers from the Shelby Police Department responded to a request for assistance from the Ohio Highway Patrol regarding an active shooter. Crall said Fike had discharged his shotgun toward Ohio Trooper Monty Sexton, disabling the trooper’s vehicle. Fike then fled across a field toward his house.
According to Crall, after entering his house and speaking to his mother, Fike left, saying that he would either commit suicide or the cops would kill him. He exited the house and advanced rapidly toward officers still carrying his shotgun.
As Fike advanced, he was given several warnings to drop his weapon. When Fike made a motion to raise his shotgun, the two officers fired and struck Fike in the chest. Life-sustaining efforts were employed and an ambulance was called to the scene, but Fike was pronounced dead shortly thereafter.
He was later confirmed to be under the influence of drugs and alcohol.
The investigation of the incident began immediately and Mack and Bushey were placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation. Crawford County Sheriff Scott Kent enlisted the expertise of the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) to conduct the investigation.
Crall said BCI spole to all officers involved and other eyewitnesses and that his office also received over 3,900 pages of documents and more than eight hours of body and cruiser camera footage to review.
“Despite the apparent clarity of self-defense by the officers and because of the resulting death, I determined that the case should be presented to the grand jury to provide the procedural check on my authority,” Crall said.
Crall said he requested special authority from Common Pleas Court to discuss the outcome of the investigation publicly.
“Normally, this portion of judicial proceedings is shielded from public view,” Crall said. “This tragedy resulted in the death of Aaron Fike and changed the lives of his family and the officers involved.”
