A Cleveland man has been cleared of a deadly shooting on an RTA bus after prosecutors determined he likely fired in self-defense, citing Ohio’s ‘stand your ground’ law.
The Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office released the following statement to 19 News on Monday:
RELATED: https://www.cleveland19.com/2021/01/08/next-ohios-stand-your-ground-bill-is-controversial-cleveland/It shows Kittreles walking down the aisle, toward the back of the bus around 7:20 p.m. He approached a man and woman who were seated beside each other.At one point, when the two men separated for a moment, a gun can be seen in the hand of the shooter. Kittreles appeared to reach in the direction of the gun, which led to another scuffle.He was killed instantly.
She believes the law, which went into effect in April of last year, will result in fewer murder charges overall due to a reluctance by prosecutors to pursue such charges. In April of this year, a woman shot and killed a man outside MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland, but prosecutors declined to pursue murder charges, again citing the state law.