Man taken to hospital after officer-involved shooting on Niles Cortland Road
The Ohio BCI has been called to investigate an officer-involved shooting along Niles-Cortland Road NE.
The road was closed to traffic as of Friday morning, with a large police presence in the area, including officers from Howland Township and Weathersfield on scene, but has since reopened.
Howland Township Administrator James Pantalone tells 21 News that a Howland Township officer fired his weapon and that there is a large police presence in front of the former Wahaka Taco location at 132 Niles Cortland Road
“We heard a bang which we thought was like a backhoe front loader dropping onto the ground because they were working on the road this morning,” Harmon Andrews who saw some of what happened said. “I saw several cruisers with guns drawn. I watched them pull a man out of the car. They secured him, put him on a stretcher, put him in an ambulance.”
Howland Township Police Chief Issued the following statement:
"On 02-13-2026, at approximately 1107am, an officer-involved shooting occurred on State Route 46 in front of the Howland Township Police and Fire Station. The incident remains under active investigation. The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI&I) has been contacted and is currently processing the scene and conducting an independent investigation into the circumstances surrounding the incident. The Howland Township Police Department will conduct an internal administrative review, including a review of department use-of-force protocols. No Howland police officers were injured during the incident. One adult male subject was transported by Howland EMS to a local hospital for treatment. His condition is not being released at this time. No additional information is available for release at this time. Further updates will be provided as they become available."
The closure affected the stretch of road between East Market Street and High Street NE.
The scene is about a block away from Howland Local Schools, but they were not affected since students are out on February break.
BCI told 21 News that they had been asked by the Howland Township Police Department to investigate an officer-involved critical incident on Niles Cortland Road. No officers were injured in the incident.
The investigation is active and ongoing.
