HOWLAND TWP., Ohio - After an extensive investigation, the Trumbull County Prosecutor's office has released its findings into a Howland standoff that lead to the fatal shooting of its suspect.

No charges will be filed against three officers that were involved in the shooting death of Randall Fife, who held three hostages at a home on Highland Avenue SE in Howland on August 22 last year.

"...This office finds that there can be no other conclusion other than the fact that the officers' use of force was reasonable," the report found. "There will be no presentment of this matter to a grand jury, and this investigation will be closed with no action against any of the officers involved."

New details reveal the incident began around 8 p.m., when Randall's mother, Kerri, returned home from grabbing groceries. Randall answered the door holding a Harrington and Richardson Model 088 12-gauge shotgun claiming "people were after him and he had to protect himself."

He also said he didn't think his brother or his mother were actually who they said they were.

At some point his brother, who was upstairs in his bedroom, came down to see what was going on. Randall then pointed the gun at his face.

This led both Kerri and Randall's brother to barricade themselves in a bedroom in the back of the house.

Police were alerted to the scene when Kerri told her daughter, who was not in the house, to call for help - about 30 minutes after the incident began.

Fife engaged in a 10-hour stand-off with police where he held his brother, his mother and his brother's girlfriend, who was hiding upstairs, hostage with a shotgun. 

The Mahoning Valley Crisis Response Team, a specialized law enforcement unit trained in weapons, tactics, hostage negotiations and emergency medical services, was called in to assist local police.

It ended when police, fearing that one of the hostages was hurt, forced their way into the house through its rear porch using an explosive charge at around 6:35 a.m. on August 23.

During the siege Fife fired at the officers, hitting four of them. Police returned fire while Fife was reloading the single-shot weapon, hitting him four times in the head, shoulders, waist and back.

About 19 shots were fired during the siege - one shot was from Randall, while 18 rounds were from the police, according to the report.

Fife, who was charged with domestic violence and kidnapping, later died of his injuries on August 28.

Meanwhile, the four officers injured by the shotgun blast suffered injuries to their arms and legs. One officer suffered a contusion while another suffered minor eye injuries.

Afterward, an independent investigation of the matter was conducted by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation's Special Investigation Unit and Crime Scene Unit.

The prosecutor's office came to the conclusion that the officers should not be charged based on interviews with those involved, witnesses that saw the shooting, interviews with the hostages, past reports on Fife, body cam footage and more.

Mental health issues are believed to have played a major role in what lead to the standoff and ultimately Fife's death.

The investigation cites three other incidents where Howland police encountered Fife while he was struggling with these issues and the report states that he was experiencing the same the day of the standoff.

Fife's mother told investigators that he could be heard saying he was "ready to go" and that he was "not afraid to die," according to the report.

She told 21 News following the standoff that he was struggling with these issues and had been dealing with them for a while. They worsened after Randall's father, who died of cancer in 2020.

She added that she had been trying to get her son help for years.

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