By Mark Gillispie
Associated Press
CLEVELAND — A 64-year-old man was fatally shot by Cleveland police early Wednesday after authorities say he exchanged gunfire with officers and shot an officer in his ballistic vest.
The Cuyahoga County medical examiner’s office identified the man as Theodore Johnson. Online court records show Johnson had numerous criminal cases filed against him between 1972 and 1992, including a jury acquittal for an aggravated murder charge in November 1976. The shootout occurred shortly after midnight Wednesday, a police spokesman said.
A woman went to a police station late Tuesday and told officers that her male partner had a gun and was threatening her and a landlord, Cleveland Police Chief Calvin Williams said early Wednesday.
The woman went with officers to the home and unlocked a door to a stairway that leads to a second-floor apartment, said the spokesman, Sgt. Ali Pillow. Johnson fired at the officers from the top of a stairway leading to the apartment. Officers returned fire, striking the man, who died at the scene.
The officer was shot at the bottom of the stairway, Pillow said, and was taken to a hospital for treatment. The officer has not been identified.
There is video footage of the shootout. All of the officers involved in the shooting were wearing body cameras that had recently been issued, Pillow said.
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