Cleveland Heights Police officers responding to a call about a fight between a father and son Thursday night shot and killed an 18-year-old Cleveland Heights resident, according to city officials.
Cleveland Heights Mayor Kahlil Seren told reporters during a press conference Friday he’d spoken briefly with the family of the victim, Christian Alexander Tyson Thomas, a recent graduate of Heights High School.
“It is a tragedy that this occurred,” Seren said. “Christian was a winner of a spelling bee, champion of the spelling bee when he was at Monticello Middle School, played sports, played instruments.”
At about 10:30 p.m. Thursday, police were dispatched to 1309 Yellowstone Avenue in response to call about a fight between Tyson Thomas and his father, said Cleveland Heights Chief of Police Christopher Britton.
According to Britton, there was a report of one shot fired inside the home before officers arrived. After they arrived, they heard a loud crash inside and another gun shot before Tyson Thomas exited the house, where three officers fired their weapons at Tyson Thomas, killing him.
No officers or civilians were injured during the incident.
“The scenario was nothing short of intense,” Britton said. “We do everything we can, and certainly the outcome last night was nothing we would hope for.”
Officials were able to offer few additional details. The investigation was turned over to the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation immediately, said Seren, who added he had not yet viewed the officers’ body camera footage.
It remains unclear whether Tyson Thomas fired any shots at officers, according to Britton, though a firearm and shell casing was found at the scene.
Britton told reporters he had done a “preliminary” review of the body camera footage and said he “did not see” a gun in Tyson Thomas’s hand in the footage. It’s also unclear how many rounds were fired by the officers.
“We still have reports to be filed and completed so I’m unaware of what happened at that point,” Britton said.
The officers involved in the shooting are on administrative lead and the department has started its own internal investigation, said Britton.
Seren and Britton said the body cam footage would be released after a review by the city’s law department.
“I would like to at least let people know that this is a real investigation and this is something that will bring the truth to light and, based on that, we will move forward,” Seren said.
