Cleveland Officials Fire Six Police Officers Involved in Deadly Shooting

The agency said another six officers face suspensions and a 13th officer involved in the incident is set to retire early.

The police chase ended in an outburst of gunfire that killed the two people inside the vehicle: Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams.

It wasn’t immediately clear if the fired officers include Patrolman Michael Brelo, who was acquitted of manslaughter charges in May for having fired the last 15 shots of the barrage in East Cleveland on November 29, 2012.

The six officers dismissed were identified as Michael Brelo, Wilfredo Diaz, Chris Ereg, Michael Farley, Erin O’Donnell and Brian Sabolik, according to media reports.

While neither Russell nor Williams were armed, Brelo avoided a conviction by arguing he felt his safety had been threatened by Russell. The CDP had previously promised more disciplinary measures against the officers involved in the shooting for, among other things, leaving the city without permission and shooting in a matter that put other officers at risk of crossfire.

“These officers have been honorably working for the citizens of Cleveland for the last three years while the city held on to their investigation during that time”, said Steve Loomis, president of the CPPA, in a statement to Fox News.

Brelo told investigators he thought he and his partner were in danger, believing the couple in the auto were shooting.

City officials, who have faced criticism for failing to take action sooner after the 2012 shooting, said they hoped the sackings would bring “closure” to a city struggling to rebuild trust following a series of high-profile police killings, including that of a black boy. Cleveland officials said Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2016, that they’re firing six police officers involved in a 137-shot barrage that killed two unarmed people after a high-speed chase. After the shooting, Cleveland asked the Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate the police department.

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“What we’ve talked about from the beginning is conducting a process that has due process at its core and is fair”, he told reporters. “We want to do our jobs”, he said. Instead, corrections will be made in a blog post or in an article.