NEWS

Chief: Northside man shot by police pointed rifle at officers

Dan Horn, and Patrick Brennan
Cincinnati
Cincinnati Police Chief Jeffrey Blackwell (right) visited the scene of Tuesday night's officer-involved shooting in Northside.

When QuanDavier Hicks opened the door to his apartment late Tuesday night, Cincinnati police say the first thing officers saw was the muzzle of a .22-caliber rifle.

"It wasn't a hello," said Assistant Police Chief James Whalen. "It was a rifle in the face."

One of the two officers at Hicks' door immediately grabbed the barrel of the gun and pushed it away from his partner, police say. The other fired a fatal shot into Hicks' chest.

A map of where the shooting happened

So ended another violent encounter in what has become the worst year for gun violence in Cincinnati in the past decade. Shootings are up 26 percent over last year through the first week of June, a jump that prompted Police Chief Jeffrey Blackwell to launch a violence-reduction plan Wednesday that includes a youth curfew and more cops on the street.

Hicks' death underscores the depth of the problem. The shooting at his apartment door in Northside was the third involving Cincinnati police so far this year.

In 2014, officers were involved in three shootings all year.

The more immediate concern for officers responding to Hicks' apartment was calming neighbors who were concerned, and in some cases angry, about what happened and why. Rumors quickly circulated that officers had kicked in Hicks' door, and some questioned why they were there in the first place.

This man was one of two people arrested after police tape was torn down at the scene on Chase Ave.

A crowd of about a dozen gathered into the early morning outside Hicks' apartment and some shouted at police as they gathered evidence at the scene. Two were arrested for disorderly conduct.

"Obviously, it's an emotional situation, a stressful situation, any time you have something like this that goes on in the community," said police spokeswoman Lt. Danita Pettis. "We certainly understand that and try to be sensitive to that."

Blackwell and his staff moved quickly Tuesday night and throughout the day Wednesday to assure the community that the officers involved didn't initiate the conflict with Hicks.

"None of us want to come to work and have to do this," Blackwell said. "Our officers, when they use deadly force, are forced to use deadly force."

He said the trouble started Tuesday at 10:47 p.m., when a woman from Hicks' neighborhood called 911 to complain that someone was threatening to kill her on the 1700 block of Chase Avenue. She said a man she knew broke into her house when she wasn't home and was now out to get her.

"He's talking about coming to kill me and all of this other kind of stuff," the caller told the 911 dispatcher.

"Is he known to carry weapons?" the dispatcher asked.

"He probably do," she answered.

Blackwell said officers responded to the area and identified the 22-year-old Hicks as the person they were looking for. They began knocking on doors and needed about 15 minutes to locate the house where Hicks lived in a third-floor apartment.

Court records show Hicks has five drug possession charges since January, including a felony charge. Blackwell said police later learned Hicks has another charge from Georgia, where he lived before moving here about a year ago.

Details about that charge were not immediately available.

Officers Doris Scott and Justin Moore entered the house and made their way up the stairs to another door. Stairs behind that door led up to Hicks' apartment on the third floor.

Blackwell said the officers knocked on the door and identified themselves as police officers. Soon after, he said, the door swung open, and Hicks pointed his rifle at Scott.

Moore, who had been on the job as a Cincinnati police officer only three days, grabbed the barrel of the rifle and pushed it away from Scott, who then pulled her gun and fired a single shot into Hicks' torso.

Blackwell said the rifle had 10 rounds in the magazine.

The next step is a series of internal and civilian reviews of the shooting. Blackwell said early indications are the shooting was justified, but it will take more time to complete the investigation.

Both officers will receive counseling and are on a mandatory seven-day leave from the department. Blackwell said police have reached out to Hicks' family, and also are working with community leaders and ministers in the area to help explain what happened.

Family members and friends demanded to know more as soon as possible. They described Hicks as a gentle and kind man, and some said the police account of him brandishing a weapon at the door didn't sound like the person they knew.

His grandmother, Ruby Hicks, sat in her grandson's third-floor room in Northside on Wednesday, next to his bed and an Atlanta Falcons banner. Outside, in the hall, was the blood-stained wall and floor where he was shot.

"Why'd they have to kill my grandson?" she said.

The Cincinnati chapter of Black Lives Matter, the group that formed in the wake of recent fatal shootings by police, issued a statement demanding a transparent investigation into Hicks' death. The group also complained about the two disorderly conduct arrests of people outside the apartment after the shooting.

"This incident has fueled righteous suspicion of the police and heightened existing tensions," the statement said.

Hamilton County Coroner Lakshmi Sammarco, whose office also is investigating Hicks' death, said final results of the autopsy could take weeks. She urged the community to remain calm and wait for all the information before jumping to conclusions.

"I'm just hoping the community takes a deep breath and doesn't react the way some other communities do," she said.

Enquirer reporter Cameron Knight contributed.