John Crawford: 10 Years Later!

We never forgotten John Crawford III.

The Hamilton, Ohio father of two picked up a BB gun and walked around a Dayton area Walmart. A man named Ronald Ritchie was upset over him being loud on the phone and walking around with a firearm. He ended up calling the Beavercreek Police claiming that the man was looking like he was up to no good and pointing a firearm at children.

The call came and Sean Williams, a then five year officer arrived with fellow officer six year officer David Darkow. Within seconds, Williams opened fire on the man.

As the man was shot, he cried, "Why did you shoot me?"

The noise and the shock of watching a man get shot caused Dayton mother Angie Williams to have a heart attack. She would later die at a hospital. 

Ritchie, realizing he made a huge mistake, tried to downplay how serious he was when all of this went down. Once the incident got national attention, Ritchie ducked the junk food media and fled Dayton for Florida.

The man was John Crawford III and his life was tragically taken by a white man falsely calling 9-1-1 on a lawful carry man.

Security camera footage showed that Crawford was talking on his cellphone and holding the BB gun as he shopped, but at no point did he aim the BB gun at anyone. After the security camera footage was released, Ritchie recanted his statement that led to the fatal shooting and stated, "At no point did he shoulder the rifle and point it at somebody", while maintaining that Crawford was "waving it around".

Sean Williams was trigger happy.

Tasha Thomas, Crawford's girlfriend at the time was treated like a criminal.

The Guardian revealed in December that immediately after the shooting, detective Rodney Curd aggressively questioned Crawford's girlfriend, Tasha Thomas, threatening her with jail time. The interrogation caused her to sob uncontrollably, with hostile questions suggesting she was drunk or on drugs when she stated that Crawford did not enter the store with a gun. She was not yet aware of Crawford's death at the time of the interrogation. 

Thomas died in a car crash in Dayton several months later on January 1, 2015.

The officers involved in the shooting were not indicted after an internal and federal investigation.

In May 2020, the city of Beavercreek agreed to pay the estate and family of John Crawford III $1.7 million to settle a wrongful death lawsuit.

Read the statement issued by the family on Aug. 5, 2024, below:

It’s hard to comprehend that it’s been 10 years since our son John was gunned down by an officer with the Beavercreek Police Dept. as he walked through a Wal-Mart. John’s senseless death has left an irreplaceable hole in all of our hearts.

Our quest for justice for our son continues a decade later. We will never give up hope as we honor his legacy and work to ensure that such an unnecessary tragedy never impacts another family.

John was doing nothing wrong as he walked through the Wal-Mart that day. Our son was simply holding an unpackaged BB gun. Surveillance video clearly shows he wasn’t a threat to anyone. Our family doesn’t understand how trained police officers could overreact in such a way or how Wal-Mart could leave an unpackaged BB gun out for days if the threat of danger was so apparent.

Our hearts break that John’s two children will never be able to spend time with their father again. Nor will we.

In an effort to hold those responsible accountable for John’s death and prevent another senseless tragedy, we continue to pursue our civil claims. We won’t rest until our son’s voice has been heard.