Police give more details of shooting

OFFICER-INVOLVED SHOOTING

Wounding a teen in South Linden Monday marked a Columbus police officer’s second career shooting, records show.

Officer Jason Fischer, who works in Zone 4, which includes Linden and the North Side, shot 16-yearold Dezjuan McCoy inside a residence in the 2100 block of Gerbert Avenue, Columbus police confirmed Tuesday.

Fischer, 41, was one of the responding officers on a call of a man with a gun that went out at 12:28 p.m. Monday.

The man with whom McCoy was arguing called 911 while he was out of breath and told dispatchers, “(McCoy) pulled the gun out and I started running.”

He described McCoy as a friend, but went on to say, “I have a beef with him.” A second call to dispatchers was placed by a woman at the residence who reported a break-in by someone who was armed. She pleaded for officers to quickly respond.

Officers heard an argument and a shot from inside the home, according to police. When they entered, McCoy had a gun in his hand. Fischer fired his gun, striking McCoy at least once, officials said. McCoy was given first aid by the officer until medics arrived and took the youth to Ohio State University’s Wexner Medical Center. He is expected to survive.

McCoy has been listed as an endangered runaway on the attorney general’s missing persons website since Aug. 22. The listing states, “If located, approach with caution.”

Fischer, who has been a police officer for the city since 2000, shot and killed an unarmed man eight years ago, archives show.

James L. Harris, 29, was shot and killed in March 2009 when police said he appeared to reach for a gun while he was behind the wheel of a stolen pickup truck. Harris had just crashed the truck trying to elude police. Harris was a suspect in a shooting that happened just 10 minutes earlier on the North Side.

Officers reported that they thought they saw him wave a silver handgun, according to archives. A gun was never found. Fischer was cleared by a grand jury in that case.

All of the division’s officer-involved shootings are investigated by a critical incident response team. Their findings are presented to the prosecutor’s office. The shooting is also reviewed by an internal firearms review board to determine if the officer acted within policy.

So far in 2017, there have been 10 officer-involved shootings. Of those, four have been fatal.