Ohio cop kills man firing off celebratory New Year gunshots without warning.😮 An Canton Ohio police officer shot through a wooden fence at a man who was firing a gun into the air to celebrate the new year early Saturday morning, bodycam footage released by cops shows.
Video of the fatal shooting of James Williams, a 46-year-old Black man, was released Thursday by police in Canton.
The wife of a Canton man shot and killed by a police officer on New Years Day is demanding justice, saying her husband was the one placed in an unsafe situation by police.
According to Canton police, officers went to the 2300 block of 10th Street SW on Saturday after getting a call about shots being fired.
Police said an officer confronted a man on scene and that the man started shooting.
Canton Police Chief Jack Angelo said the officer feared for his safety and shot the man.
He’s been identified by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation as 46-year-old James Williams.
Williams’ wife Marquetta told 19 News that they were in their backyard ringing in the new year when the shooting happened.
“My husband and I both went out there to shoot guns in the air, like everybody does to celebrate,” Williams said.
She said James, known by friends and family as Roe, was behind a 6-foot high wooden privacy fence
“You can’t see in. You can’t see out,” she said.
Marquetta said her husband wasn’t firing at an officer, rather still shooting into the air and even more, didn’t know police were on the other side of their fence.
“We didn’t know who it was when it happened because nobody said anything. They didn’t say: ‘Stop, freeze, police!’ Nothing, they just shot him,”
Williams said her husband was the one put in the unsafe situation, not the police officer.
“His life was in danger, because you didn’t announce yourself,” Williams said. “That’s cold-blooded and I’m not going to rest until he does get justice, period.”