Cincinnati Police Shooting of Paul Gaston

Susan · #1 ● 02-19-2016, 03:51 PM

A 37-year-old man fatally shot by officers in the Cincinnati area grabbed for a “very realistic-looking” airsoft pistol, police said Thursday.

Three officers fired nine shots at Paul Gaston after he reached toward his waistband for a pellet gun in an encounter caught on cell phone video 650 feet from where Gaston crashed his truck into a telephone pole Wednesday afternoon, said Cincinnati police Chief Eliot Isaac.

Police on Thursday released two videos of the shooting in Cheviot, Ohio, a 911 call from Gaston’s girlfriend reporting a “man out there waving a gun” and a photo of the airsoft pistol.

“The officers, once they identified the weapon, they discharged their firearms,” Chief Isaac said. “Based on what we’ve been able to determine, our officers responded appropriately and according to their training.”

The three officers, Scott McManis, Zachary Sterbling and Eric Kohler, are shown in the videos surrounding Gaston with their weapons trained on him as he kneeled on the ground with his hands behind his head on Harrison Ave. A fourth officer with a rifle pointing at him stood nearby.

“Keep your hands where we can see ‘em,” the officers shouted, telling Gaston to lower himself all the way to the ground. Gaston moved toward the ground then appeared to raise himself up partially and pick his hands off the ground with his right hand at his hip.

“Woah, woah, where we can see ‘em! Don’t do it!” one of the cops said just before the shots were fired. A woman can be heard screaming “Oh my God!” in the footage and another woman whose voice is in a video from an alternate angle begged Gaston to comply with the officer’s orders.

Paul Gaston, 37, was reaching for an airsoft pistol he had on him when he was shot, police said.
Cincinnati Police Department

Paul Gaston, 37, was reaching for an airsoft pistol he had on him when he was shot, police said.

“Please do it, please do it,” she said as the officers ordered him to lie down. “Please do what you’re asked.”

Isaac said investigators learned after probing the shooting that Gaston’s girlfriend had dialed 911 around 4:45 p.m. from her job after her sister heard Gaston was armed.

“There’s a man out there waving a gun and there’s kids there,” she said. Other calls Isaac played at a news conference alerted cops that a man had smashed his pickup truck into the pole in the nearby Westwood area.

One of the witnesses said the driver stumbled out, dropped a gun and picked it back up again before walking away. Cheviot is about 6 miles northwest of Cincinnati, and police later released a map of the short distance down Harrison Ave. from the crash site to the shooting site.

Oswald2001 · #2 ● 02-19-2016, 04:38 PM

Good riddance.

Daveroo · #3 ● 02-19-2016, 06:41 PM

this gonna be another of those cases where they will yell about murderous cops??

-NocturnalPulse- · #4 ● 02-19-2016, 11:20 PM

Stupid of that guy to even have an air soft gun on him. He was probably a felon too who wasn't allowed to own any guns. Either way stupid situation to get yourself into.

tarvin890 · #5 ● 02-20-2016, 06:37 PM

they told him to pull it out.... then they shot him?

**kellyhound** · #6 ● 02-21-2016, 04:44 AM

crashed his car into a telephone pole and walks around with an airsoft gun in his waistband and then his gf calls the cops a man is waving a gun. Wonder why she didn't tell them the guy was her bf. stupid actions by him so he paid the price. doesn't look like the average friendly common guy next door eighter.