Officials reconstruct shooting

2 unarmed people killed by police. Reports said officers believed one fired a shot.

— Law EAST CLEVELAND enforcement officials Saturday morning reconstructed the scene where 13 Cleveland police officers fired more than 100 shots at a car at the end a long pursuit in late 2012.

Two unarmed people in the car were killed by the barrage of bullets. A Cuyahoga County grand jury is now listening to evidence about the shooting. Some of the officers involved in the pursuit and shooting may be charged.

The morning’s focal point in a parking lot of Heritage Middle School in East Cleveland was the 1979 Chevrolet Malibu torn up by many of the 137 shots fired on the night of Nov. 29, 2012. The car’s occupants, Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams, died from gunshot wounds.

Reports said police believed that either Russell or Williams had fired a shot while they were in downtown Cleveland before the pursuit began, but no weapon was found in the car. Around 60 Cleveland police cars took part in the 30-minute pursuit at various times.

Officials began setting up the reconstruction around 8:30 a.m. By the time the media were allowed on the school property, the car had already been brought in, along with two Cleveland police cruisers that had hemmed in the Malibu at the end of the chase.

Personnel from the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s office, the county sheriff ’s department, the county medical examiner’s office and the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation were on the grounds Saturday. For much of the time they measured distances. The media was kept almost 100 yards away.

Prosecutor Timothy McGinty’s office repeatedly said Saturday’s activity was not a re-enactment of the shooting, rather an examination of what happened.

“We are gathering information, running some tests,” said Joseph Frolik, the office spokesman. Asked if anything gleaned from the exercise will be presented to the grand jury, Frolik said, “I think that is a safe assumption.”

There was no indication grand jury members were present. The prosecutor’s office said they would not be.

One person who was there and watching closely was Jeff Follmer, president of the Cleveland Police Patrolmen’s Association. He spoke critically of the exercise, describing it as a “McGinty production” and a “media production.”

“They are doing this during the day. If this is any kind of re-enactment, there are no lights, no sirens. You can’t come away with the officers’ perceptions, and the threat they felt that night.”

He added, “They are in the middle of a grand jury session, and they are doing this now?”

The officials wrapped up their work by 5 p.m.