COLUMBUS (WCMH) – A Franklin County grand jury has determined that two Columbus police officers who fatally shot a man in 2016 should not be criminally charged.

Henry Green was shot on June 6, 2016 while walking along with another person in the south Linden neighborhood.

Police said he was holding a gun when the officers approached him.

“He’s holding that gun, they get out they identify themselves as officers,” Columbus Police Sgt. Weiner said of the two undercover officers on the day of the shooting. “They had their badges; they are clearly police officers. They tell the one suspect to drop the gun. He does not and points it at them and he starts shooting at the officers.”

Green’s family has maintained that witnesses never heard the officers identify themselves and that her son was never the type to carry a weapon.

Protesters gathered outside the courthouse waiting for the decision to be announced.

The Franklin County Prosecutor’s office released a statement after the grand jury decision was revealed:

The officers were in plain clothes and a leased undercover car participating in the CPD Summer Safety initiative in the South Linden area. The officers stated they observed Green walking down the street with a firearm and at one point the gun was levelled at their vehicle. That information was aired over the radio by the officers before the shooting. The officers stated upon circling the block and calling for back-up they observed Green and Christian Rutledge in the street at Duxberry and Ontario. Officers stated Mr. Green raised his weapon toward the officers. The officers and witnesses gave varied accounts as to who fired the first shot.

It was determined by Detectives that Green fired six shots, Bare fired seven times, and Rosen fired 15 shots. That determination can be made because different caliber weapons were used, 40 cal. by the two officers and a 9mm by Mr. Green. Mr. Green’s DNA was found on the 9mm handgun recovered at the scene. The police Detectives from the CPD CIRT team interviewed witnesses at the scene, canvassed the area for witnesses, and several witnesses were referred to them from the community. Those Detectives found that there were conflicting statements from the multiple witnesses interviewed about how the shooting occurred, who fired the first shot, whether the officers announced their status as police officers, whether the police badges around their neck on lanyards were observable, and whether the officers acted in self-defense or shot Henry Green for no apparent lawful purpose.

One witness interviewed by Detectives stated Mr. Green was shot after he was handcuffed and laying on the ground. After the completion of the CPD investigation the prosecutor’s office asked BCI, an arm of the Ohio Attorney General, to do a 3D scan of the crime scene and requested the Ohio Organized Crime commission to create a 3D animation of the scene after measurements of bullet strikes on the officers vehicle were taken to determine angles for the bullets that entered that vehicle.

One goal was to determine the place/location of the person when the weapon was fired that struck the police vehicle. On Tuesday May 21, 2017 the Grand jury began hearing 20 witnesses after being instructed on the law by Judge Stephen McIntosh, Administrative Judge, regarding the constitutional rules on the use of deadly force by police officers as well as a standard jury instruction on credibility of witnesses.

The instruction by Judge McIntosh as to credibility of witnesses, and the standards a juror is to use when there is conflicting testimony was important due to the wide difference in statements of the witnesses. It is the role of a juror to determine what part of a witnesses’ testimony to believe and they may believe all, part, or none of a witnesses’ testimony, dependent upon how credible or believable they find it to be. The instruction on deadly force is attached and is derived directly from U.S. and Ohio Supreme Court decisions. The witnesses called before the Grand Jury included the mother of Henry Green, Adrienne Hood, as well as the two officers involved in the shooting, Zachary Rosen and Jason Bare.

Tap here to read the full statement.

Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther released the following statement:

The community has waited many months to learn the result of the grand jury investigation into the police-involved shooting of Henry Green. The integrity of the investigation and presentation to the grand jury required the withholding of information critical to the investigation and potential prosecution.

Now, it is important we share as much information as we are able. The proceedings of the grand jury should be unsealed, and the results of the police investigation should be made public as soon as the law allows.

I am committed to working with all residents and the police to close the divide, focus on what unites us and work toward building trust and giving hope and opportunity.

Jason Pappas with the Fraternal Order of Police said Friday’s decision is exactly what they expected.

“We know and I knew that the officers did a great job at protecting themselves and the public at large,” he said. “At the end of the day, Mr. Green shot at them. They returned fire protecting themselves and others and they were completely justified, just as we knew they were.”

Green’s mother, Adrienne Hood, testified before the grand jury Thursday.

“I said to them, ‘I’m not saying my son is an angel, but he’s my angel,’” Hood said.

Hood said she shared memories with the grand jury of the times her son made her laugh.

“We was robbed of that when those two plain clothes officers decided to gun my son down,” Hood said Thursday.