Columbus police say the east side apartment complex where an officer shot and killed a man Thursday wasn't listed as a mental health organization that helps house people experiencing mental illness.
Police released body camera footage of the shooting Monday and identified the victim as 26-year-old Colin Jennings. The footage shows a man police say is Jennings exiting the apartment complex as police arrive and walking towards two officers brandishing a knife and telling police multiple times to "shoot me" and "I want to die." The complex is located in the 500 block of North Nelson Road.
One officer holding a gun turned towards his partner and told the second officer to tase Jennings. The two officers appear to discharge their weapons at the same time as Jennings circles around the car the officers used as cover. Jennings was shot at least once in the chest. He later died from his injuries at a hospital.
Ken Coontz with Columbus Public Safety said the Franklin County Alcohol Drugs and Mental Health Board uses Creekside Apartment to house people with mental health needs, but police were not aware of this. He said police did not send an alternative response unit to the scene, which usually happens in response to situations involving mental health crises.
Coontz said police will add the location to their database in the future so officers can send alternative response teams to help with any future mental health calls.
"This information will be helpful to our call takers, dispatchers and ultimately police officers responding to the scene," Coontz said.
Coontz said they often rely on these privately-run facilities to reach out to us, because it's really individual rights. Some of these agencies do not want to be identified or labeled in that fashion and where others might want to be labeled that way."
Coontz said a 911 call from Jennings' boyfriend brought police to the scene. He said the caller being at risk of injury escalated the situation and made sending the city's alternative crisis response units more difficult.
Coontz said the caller told 911 that Jennings tried to take the phone from him, tried to punch the caller in the throat and prevented the caller from leaving. Coontz also said there was a previous call to 911 involving Jennings and a weapon, but further details were not provided.
Columbus police Sgt. Rich Brooks said officers are trained to deploy their taser, but have to use some kind of cover, such as a car. Brooks said in this case officers were trying to use a parked car, but Jennings kept advancing towards them and the taser hit Jennings' thick jacket.
"Things can go wrong and in this case, the suspect's thick Carhart-type jacket didn't let the probes make contact with the skin. If the probes don't make contact with the skin or at least through a quarter to a half inch of clothing, the taser isn't going to be effective," Brooks said.
The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation is reviewing the incident, which is standard procedure.
Police have not identified the officers involved in the incident, citing Marsy's Law, which is meant to give rights to crime victims.
