No charges against officers who killed teen homicide suspect

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Three officers in Ohio’s capital city have been cleared in the fatal 2020 police shooting of a 17-year-old homicide suspect, a prosecutor announced Monday.

Authorities say Joseph Jewell opened a hotel room door and immediately fired on officers after police knocked on the door in February 2020 and announced their presence. They said officers returned fire and hit Jewell, who later died at a hospital.

No officers were injured. Jewell was suspected in the shooting of another 17-year-old.

A grand jury reviewed the incident Friday and declined to indict the officers, according to a release from Franklin County Prosecutor Gary Tyack.

Earlier this month, a Franklin County grand jury also cleared a Columbus officer in the April 2021 shooting death of 16-year-old Ma’Khia Bryant, killed as she swung a knife at a young woman.

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This story corrects the spelling of Ma’Khia Bryant and the year of her shooting death.