FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WOWO): The Fort Wayne police officer involved in a police action shooting won’t face any charges.
Allen County Prosecutor Karen E. Richards held a press conference Thursday afternoon and said without a doubt in her mind that Officer Richard Hollo was justified his in actions.
She said it was clear the 17-year-old who Hollo shot was armed and Hollo, an 8 ½ year veteran, was acting in self defense.
The shooting in question happened at about 1:25 p.m. Tuesday, June 21. Hollo was in an unmarked police car in the area near the 2800 block of Smith Street. Richards said Hollo was in the area because it has a lot of gang activity.
A day before the shooting, the 17-year-old’s home was shot at in a drive-by shooting. Richards said the unmarked police car matched the description of the car involved in the drive-by.
That’s why she thinks three individuals approached the car. Hollo said he believed one of the individuals had gun and Richards said it was clear from the police car camera that one person was armed. Hollo got out of the car and told the individuals to drop the weapon.
Hollo said the 17-year-old pointed a gun at him and he fired shots at the teenager. The 17-year-old was hit in the lower back and was hospitalized in serious condition.
Richards said two witnesses corroborated Hollo’s statement by saying they heard the officer shouting to drop the gun and to stop.
Former FWPD Chief Garry Hamilton held a press conference a day after the shooting. During the conference, he said police didn’t recover any weapons the day of the shooting.
However, police were tipped off about a gun in the alley by an intercepted phone call between inmates who know the 17-year-old. Police searched the alley again and found an XD handgun on June 24.
Richards says a flip phone was also found at the scene and was used to corroborate the officer’s statement. She said the phone belonged to the 17-year-old and had text messages showing he tried to sell an XD handgun prior to the shooting.
Richards says all this evidence justified Hollo’s actions and her office will not file any criminal charges.
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The whole press conference is below.
