Middletown police officer who fatally shot an armed man will not face criminal charges; According to Prosecutor

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Middletown police officer who fatally shot an armed man will not face criminal charges; According to Prosecutor

MIDDLETOWN, Ohio — Butler County Prosecutor Michael Gmoser announced that the Middletown police officer who fatally shot an armed man will not face criminal charges.

The Butler County Grand Jury was presented with the facts of the case involving 50-year-old Christopher Gorak, the suspect who died in the officer-involved shooting.

The shooting happened on Christmas Eve 2024.

Middletown police were called to an apartment building on Park Lane for a report of a domestic violence incident involving two men assaulting each other.

According to the Butler County Prosecutor’s press release, when officers arrived at the apartment, they knocked three times on the door and twice announced themselves as officers from the Middletown Police Department. Gorak opened the door and pointed his pistol at the officers.

“In three-tenths of one second that threat of deadly harm was responded to with lethal force by the officer closest to the door and who had announced police presence resulting in the death of Mr. Gorak by four shots being fired by the officer,” according to Gmoser. “Immediate resuscitative efforts were engaged by the police officers on scene and Mr. Gorak died resulting from the shots fired at him.”

According to the prosecutor’s office, an autopsy revealed that Gorak was “heavily intoxicated by alcohol more than three times” the legal driving limit. He also tested positive for cannabis in his system.

“Pointing a firearm at a police officer in the performance of his or her duties in any event regardless of sobriety will likely be met with justifiable lethal force and consequences as it was in this instance,” according to Gmoser.

The Middletown Division of Police reported the shooting to the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI), which conducted an independent investigation.

One month later, a grand jury ruled that Gorak’s death “was justified,” according to Gmoser.

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