911 Crank Caller Gets Black Man Killed By Cops: Claimed Wal-Mart Shopper Was Pointing A Gun At People — Video Showed Shopper Didn't Point Toy Gun At Anyone

911 crank caller Ronald Ritchie repeatedly stated that John Crawford was pointing a gun at Wal-Mart shoppers. The video showed that Crawford didn't point the toy gun at anyone.  “He was the catalyst, if you will, in the whole sequence of events leading up to my son’s death,” John Crawford Jr told the Guardian. “It was a crank call. He excited the call, and exaggerated the call, and frankly it was just a bunch of lies.”

Mother of John Crawford speaks to reporter about her sons murder via 911 crank call.

By Jon Swaine

The family of a young black man who was killed by police in an Ohio Walmart while holding an unloaded BB rifle and speaking on his cellphone have called for action to be taken against a 911 caller who claimed he was pointing the gun at people.

Mother of John Crawford Speaks About His Murder
By Police After A Crank 911 Call by A Racist

John Crawford III was shot dead last month by an officer responding to an emergency call made by Ronald Ritchie, a shopper standing 100ft away, who repeatedly stated to the dispatcher that Crawford was pointing the air rifle at customers.

Video Proves John Crawford Didn't Point The Toy Gun
He Was Purchasing at Anyone

Surveillance footage and audio recordings released after a grand jury declined to indict the officer who shot Crawford showed that Crawford was holding the rifle at his side and pointing it to the floor at the time when Ritchie alleged that “he just pointed it at, like, two children”.

Crawford’s father and the family’s attorney said that Ritchie, 24, should be questioned by police over the discrepancy between the footage and his allegation, which he made about 80 seconds before Crawford was shot, and confirmed when asked soon after. Knowingly “making false alarms” is a crime under Ohio law punishable by a fine or jail sentence.

911 Crank caller Ronald Ritchie (top) managed
to get police to execute a John Crawford based
on the bogus information he deliberately pro-
vided. (Photo WHIO)

RELATED STORY: Shopper Who Called 911 On Ohio Man
During Walmart Gun Chaos Changes Story -
After Viewing Video

“He was the catalyst, if you will, in the whole sequence of events leading up to my son’s death,” John Crawford Jr told the Guardian. “It was a crank call. He excited the call, and exaggerated the call, and frankly it was just a bunch of lies.”

Ritchie declined to comment in an online message on Friday. He has previously maintained that Crawford posed a threat to shoppers and that the 911 call was justified.

RELATED STORY: Ohio Grand Jury — No Indictments in
John Crawford Walmart Shooting

Special prosecutor Mark Piepmeier stressed on Wednesday that the responding police officers were led to understand that Crawford was an active threat. One even called back to the dispatcher to check that the 911 caller said Crawford was pointing the rifle at people. “If he’s not there, we may not be here,” Piepmeier said of Ritchie at a press conference.

Read More