There are various versions of the John Crawford III Shooting by Beavercreek, Ohio Police that have been released today after a grand jury decided to not indict the officers who shot Mr. Crawford after what appears to have been an exaggerated/embellished 911 call.

The video above is a time-compressed version showing an external camera view mounted over a pair of doors to the left, synched with another camera on the right showing the aisle and John Crawford, who is on the phone, apparently oblivious to everyone.

Crawford repetitively swings the rifle back and forth as he talks, but at no point does he appear to point it at anyone as 911 caller Ronald Ritchie claims.

At 8:26:53 (HH:MM:SS format) into the film (below) a BeaverCreek Officer comes into frame, about to pie the corner onto the aisle in which John Crawford is talking on the phone. This will be a left 90-degree turn for the officer, and he will take it very slowly, in order to expose as little of himself as possible while getting “eyes on” a potential threat.

At no later than 8:26:56—less than three seconds after the officer sets himself up to pie the corner—it is apparent that Crawford has already been struck with two bullets and is reacting to being shot.

Crawford drops the BB gun as he falls—which was pointing at the ground for the entire few seconds that the officer saw him—and collapses.

Less than a second later Crawford was sprawled on the ground, the weapon near his feet. He had already been mortally wounded.

While shots and later shouts can be heard on the audio, there is nothing that captures the sound of police officers shouting at Crawford to drop the BB gun as they claim they did, nothing to indicate that Crawford knew officers were nearby, and no time for him to respond before the shots where fired in any event.

While the local grand jury refused to indict officers for Crawford’s death, the evidence has been turned over to the Department of Justice for a federal investigation.

I’ve been through simulators recently, where “shoot/no shoot” targets were employed. In my opinion, I don’t see where officers had the time to competently assess Crawford, who was pointing something that appeared to them to be a rifle at the floor, as an immediate lethal force threat to anyone.