COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – Police are now revealing more information about the moments that led up to a Columbus police response that ended in death and a police retraction.
Just after 4 a.m. on Thursday, police responded to reports of a man threatening to take his life and kill others in a house with him. This was at George’s Creek Apartment complex on Georges Creek Drive, off Gender Road near Canal Winchester.
Police are not saying how 21-year-old Rafael Warfield, who reportedly shot at police, died – whether his death was from a self inflicted or officer inflicted gunshot. They say BCI is investigating and the video shown is what they can share.
In the video, officers repeatedly call for Warfield to come out with his hands up. Later on, there is gunfire.
CPD said Warfield shot at the officers who then returned fire. Warfield was pronounced dead on the scene just before 4:30 a.m. Thursday. CPD released a cause of death but then a few hours later, retracted it.
"The information that was originally given came from an officer on the scene. We can't give you any information or speculate as to why that information was given. So at this point, what we do know is what we were able to show you. There was an exchange, there was shots fired from the suspect and there were shots fired from one of our officers," Columbus Police Chief Elaine Bryant said.
Police released three body-worn cameras from responding officers: the one who fired, the one who provided back up and one other.
This happened between 4 a.m. and 4:30 a.m., a time when the city’s Right Response Unit is not on duty.
They determine if a situation involves a potential mental health crisis and if so, a clinician can get involved. Chief Bryant said because there was a gun involved, officers would have responded either way.
"In a situation like this where there is a gun and actively aggressively, possibly causing harm to themselves or to someone else, officers have to respond accordingly. There was no history that we were made aware of of a mental health illness at the time and they did ask for Right Response but they weren’t on at that time," Bryant said.
Four officers are on administrative leave, including the one who fired their gun. Bryant said the most senior of the four had five years of experience while the others had a range of between one and two years.
