AKRON, Ohio — Editor's Note: This story has been updated with additional information provided by police.
An arrest attempt by the U.S Marshal's Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive task force turned deadly Thursday morning after a wanted suspect and an Akron police officer fired their guns.
Akron Lt. Michael Murphy told News 5's Bob Jones that it happened just after 8:30 a.m. on Brown Street near Tyner Street.
According to Murphy, task force members were trying to serve a felony warrant for vandalism for 34-year-old Johnathan Moore. Police said he had also been previously charged with burglary, assault, strangulation, gross sexual imposition and attempted rape.
When officers went into a home to arrest Moore, he allegedly pulled a gun and refused to drop it, prompting an officer to deploy his Taser.
Police said Moore fired one round, striking himself in the head.
An Akron detective, who is an 8-year veteran of the force, fired at least one round, striking Moore in the chest, Murphy said. Officers rendered aid until EMS arrived.
The Summit County Medical Examiner's Office said Moore was transported to Summa Health in Akron for treatment, but later died.
Ohio BCI has been called in to handle the investigation, Murphy said. The detective has been placed on paid leave, per department policy.
Akron police body-worn camera footage from the incident will be released within seven days.
Akron FOP Lodge 7 President Brian Lucey provided the following statement regarding the shooting:
"The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) is conducting the independent investigation into today’s officer involved shooting, and that investigation limits what we can release right now. We will not get ahead of BCI. But the people of Akron deserve to know what led up to today, and we can tell that part of the story.
In 2024, an Akron police officer arrested a man on a rape charge. Those charges were later dropped by Summit County prosecutor’s office due to lack of cooperation from the victim. Our officer made an arrest based on the evidence in front of him. The rest is up to the prosecutors and court system.
The man did not go back to his life. He blamed the officer who arrested him. He found out where that officer lived. In the middle of the night, he went to the officer’s home and smashed the windows. He left his blood at the scene.
Everyone in Akron should denounce that. Showing up at an officer’s home because he arrested you is intimidation, and under Ohio law it is a felony of the third degree.
He did not stop there. He called the Akron Police Department repeatedly, harassing the detectives and demanding they arrest the woman who had accused him. Think about that. He attacked a police officer’s home, then kept calling the police to make demands.
Investigators handled it the right way. They collected the blood and sent it to the lab. The DNA came back to a match to him. By today, he was wanted on multiple felony warrants.
Today, Akron police officers serving as task force officers with the Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force went to take him into custody on those warrants. They knew who they were dealing with a man who had already tracked a police officer to his house and attacked it in the dark. When they made contact with him, he was armed with a handgun, and he refused to follow lawful verbal commands. Officers had to make a split-second decision, and they discharged their weapons. The suspect tragically died. None of the officers suffered physical injuries.
BCI will sort out exactly what happened in those few seconds. We will wait for those answers, and we ask the public and the press to do the same. What we already know is this: officers went to arrest a man who had stalked one of their own, and he met them armed and unwilling to comply. No officer wants to fire his weapon. These officers did their jobs in a situation nobody wants to be in, and they will cooperate fully with BCI. Incidents like this are always tragic. They are also a reminder of how dangerous this job is, in Akron and everywhere else.
The FOP will not release the name of the officer whose home he attacked. He is a crime victim, and Marsy’s Law protects his privacy the same way it protects every other victim in Ohio. He was not part of the team that served these warrants. He has spent months knowing that a man he arrested knew where he lived, and he kept coming to work anyway.
We are grateful to the U.S. Marshals Service and our partners on the task force for standing with Akron officers today.
Akron officers make arrests every day, and most of the people they arrest move on with their lives. This man made a different set of choices. He stalked a police officer, attacked his home, harassed the detectives, and met officers serving lawful warrants with a gun in his hand. We urge everyone to comply with officers’ commands. Ultimately, how someone comes into custody is their choice. The FOP stands with every one of our members involved in today’s incident."
Akron Mayor Shammas Malik also provided a statement:
Today’s incident is a tragedy in which a life was lost, and it placed our officers and other members of the federal joint task force in a very dangerous set of circumstances. Our officers train extensively for the incredibly difficult moments they may encounter while doing this work, but no amount of training makes what happened today easy to deal with. We will allow the independent investigation to establish the full sequence of events and determine exactly what occurred. I am grateful that none of the law enforcement officers on the scene were physically harmed. My thoughts are with them and their families today, as well as the family of the deceased.
