Randy Ludlow, THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Copyright 2006 The Columbus Dispatch
All Rights Reserved
A park police officer confirmed that a mentally disturbed man racked a shell into the chamber and pointed his pump-action shotgun at three Hocking County deputies before they opened fire, killing the man.
Sgt. Eric Matheny and Deputies Justin Sartori and Ben Skinner shot Larry Morrison as park officer Mark Bryant was moving Morrison’s mother “out of harm’s way” from a porch.
The details came from a report that Bryant, an officer at Hocking Hills State Park, submitted to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources after the shooting early Saturday.
Sheriff Lanny North said deputies fired in self-defense when Morrison leveled his shotgun after they had pleaded with the 27-year-old for more than a minute to drop the gun.
Deputies discovered a handgun and ammunition in Morrison’s clothing.
Gail Scribner called deputies to her rural house southwest of Logan, reporting that her son, whom she described as paranoid schizophrenic, was armed and tearing up her property.
The three deputies, who shot Morrison five times, remained unidentified until The Dispatch obtained Bryant’s report yesterday in response to a public-records request.
The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification & Investigation, whose agents are investigating the shooting, would not release records identifying the deputies. A spokesman for Attorney General Jim Petro said the records were exempt as “specific investigatory work product.”
North’s office also would not name the deputies yesterday, saying the incident report was incomplete and unavailable because the detective working on the report had become ill.
However, the detective later was summoned to finish the report and it was provided in response to the newspaper’s public-records request.
The report reveals that a 22-year-old Logan man, who was accompanying Skinner on a “ride-along,” witnessed some of the events.
In a statement, Joshua Jarrell said he heard the deputies repeatedly yell at Morrison to drop his gun for 15 to 20 seconds before he heard about five shots.
North said Monday that state investigators advised him not to release the names of the deputies. Bureau agents did not give such advice to North, said Petro spokesman Bob Beasley.
The State Highway Patrol has no formal policy on releasing the names of troopers involved in shootings but seeks to provide the media and public with timely information, said Sgt. Craig Cvetan, patrol spokesman.
The patrol releases the names of troopers as soon as possible, typically within hours, Cvetan said.
Last month, less than nine hours passed before the Patrol identified James Cress as the trooper who fatally shot a man during a struggle over a gun the man pulled during a traffic stop in Fayette County.
The Columbus Division of Police strives to release the names of officers involved in shootings “within the first day, if not sooner,” said Sgt. Mike Woods, a department spokesman.
“It’s more or less a public record, so we release that information as soon as we can,” Woods said. Officer names are not released until their families have been notified and detectives have interviewed the officers, he said.