Muskingum County prosecuting attorney, Ronald Welch, has released the findings of his investigation into the St. Clair Township officer-involved shooting from a year ago.

On January 22nd 2025 Joseph Como, 29, was driven to an appointment to see a doctor regarding his mental health but before he got inside the building, "...he became upset..." with the family member who'd given him the ride, the report states.

They argued and Como walked off, causing the doctor's office to "...call the police asking them to help locate Como..." and that he "...was currently psychotic."

Then officer Dakota Wetzel and Officer Askounes located him on St. Clair Avenue where they called out to Como to "...come here for a minute." When officers called him a second time, that's when Como "...began walking abruptly toward Officer Wetzel." He commanded Como, "Stop let me see your hands. Let me see your hands!" When Como pulled his hands from his pockets, "...immediately visible in his right hand was a firearm."

The report continues, "Como takes three strides toward Ofc. Wetzel, closing the distance between the two to less than 20 feet." This caused Wetzel to let off five shots and Como returned one, striking Wetzel in the head.

Askounes also fired 11 to 13 shots but prosecutors say it was most likely the third shot fired by Wetzel that missed Como and went into a nearby dentist's office, killing four year old Rosalie Martin.

Welch's review of "the complete investigative packet," included footage from body worn cameras, video footage from the area where the shooting occurred, witness statements from law enforcement and civilians, crime scene diagrams, reconstruction data, ballistic reports, DNA reports, autopsy reports and photographs among other things.

Welch found "...there was no opportunity for Ofc. Wetzel to implement anything learned during critical incident training or to engage in any type of de-escalation tactics."

Further, the report states the case draws attention to "...many different issues. The first issue is the shortcomings that exist in mental health for providing a safe and secure placement for individuals in crisis who represent a danger to themselves, the public and ultimately law enforcement. The second issue is officers, despite their best efforts, do not always have an opportunity to put critical incident training to use because situations can escalate in a split second. A third issue highlighted in this case is officers do not get to choose when and where an incident may escalate resulting in the use of deadly force."

However, there is a resource coming down the pipeline that could help mitigate the mental health aspect.

"Governor DeWine has mandated that every county in Ohio will have something called MRSS which is mobile response stabilization services so every county in Ohio probably within a few months will have an agency designated to go out and do 24/7 response," Duane Piccirilli, executive director of the Mahoning County Mental Health and Recovery Board said.

Welch concludes his report with, "I offer my sympathies to all who have been impacted by this event and hope others never have to experience the trauma suffered by those involved in this case."