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Hamilton County Prosecutor Connie Pillich announced that the shooting death of 18-year-old Ryan Hinton by a Cincinnati police officer on May 1 would not be sent to the grand jury, and there would be no criminal charges filed against the officer. Pillich said the Cincinnati police officer used justified and legal force in the shooting.

According to Cincinnati Police reports, police found Ryan Hinton and three others shortly before 10 a.m. on May 1 in a 2021 Kia Telluride SUV that was reported stolen out of Edgewood, Kentucky. The GPS in this stolen Kia helped officers locate the car and the suspects in the parking lot of an apartment complex on Warsaw Avenue in East Price Hill.

All four suspects bailed from the stolen vehicle and started running from police, some in different directions, according to Police Chief Teresa A. Theetge.

The video showed that Hinton fell while running and what appeared to be a gun in his hand touched the ground. According to the prosecutor, Hinton then picked up the gun, got back on his feet, and continued running as he neared a set of dumpsters.

The video shows the officer, only identified as “Officer A” due to Marcy’s Law, approaching the dumpsters.

About four seconds later, Pillich said Officer A encountered Hinton running out from between garbage dumpsters.

The officer yells out to other officers that Hinton had a gun, according to the video from the Hamilton County Prosecutor’s Office. The video shows Officer A firing four to five rounds at Hinton as the 18-year-old was running. 

The prosecutor said the officer who shot Hinton told investigators he thought Hinton was pointing his weapon at him and the officer feared for his life. Hinton’s family disputes that the 18-year-old pointed the gun at the police officer and contends that Ryan was running away.

Fanon Rucker, the attorney who represents the family of Ryan Hinton, said at a press conference, “Justice is not coming from the criminal justice system. But justice will be obtained, and we are here to ensure that is the case. What we have not seen since May 1 is a gun in the young man’s hand who was running away from someone who was not even in uniform and standing to his side shooting at him.”

Rucker added that an important piece in obtaining justice is the credibility of those involved. “Credibility comes when you look at the videos, the credibility of the primary officer who pulled the trigger, when you look at the records of the primary officer, and when the police chief says the young man was shot in the front, when we know it was the side.”

Pillich said she is confident her decision was made with due diligence, following a thorough review and objective decision made without emotion. “Officer A was legally justified to use force.” she said. “I decided not to send the case to the grand jury, but relied on the review recommendation of my senior staff. I am solely responsible for the decision.”

“We went through video from the incident frame by frame. Police officers often have to make split second decisions, and the video shows it was reasonable for Officer A to fear being harmed,” she said.