Family members of an Ohio man who they say was fatally shot by police while he’s cleaning out at his late grandmother’s house are demanding answers in his death as they await the release of body-worn camera video of the incident.
Joe Frasure, 28, was killed in Wyoming, Ohio, early Monday by officers who officials have said were responding to a call about a possible burglary.
Family members said Frasure was at his grandmother’s apartment to clean it out after her recent death.
“None of it makes sense to us,” said Erika Frasure, who is married to Frasure’s half-brother, Joe Frasure Jr. “It was a burglary call. He was somewhere he was supposed to be. None of this adds up.”
Hamilton County prosecutors are expected to release body-worn camera video Friday, Wyoming Police Chief Brooke Brady has said.
Erika Frasure said family members were told they could view the video before it was publicly released.
Wyoming police said officers responded to a call about a possible burglary at an apartment building at 12:37 a.m. Monday and encountered Frasure and his father at the back of the building.
Frasure “was in a minivan and refused commands to exit,” Brady said in a video statement.
“The minivan reversed at a high rate of speed before hitting a tree, at which point the vehicle accelerated rapidly at our officers,” the chief said.
Officers fired four shots at the minivan as it moved toward them, according to Brady.
Frasure was shot and taken to a hospital, where he was declared brain dead and dead Tuesday night, according to officials and his family.
Frasure’s grandmother died in early January, and family members had spent all day Sunday at her apartment, Erika and Joe Frasure Jr. said.
Frasure was there trying to get another relative’s vehicle to start so they could leave the property, they said.
Joe Frasure Jr. and Frasure have the same father and grew up together.
“He was my best friend. He was my brother,” Joe Frasure Jr. said. “All the kids love him, and he had that country boy twang,” he said.
The Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the shooting.
Among the people who called attention to the case was prominent civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who tweeted about it.
Wyoming is a city of around 8,700 in the Cincinnati area, about 12 miles north of downtown.
“I want justice, I want answers and I want them to pay the consequences,” Joe Frasure Jr. said.