OH · March 15, 2025
Man Takes Neighbor Hostage then Falls Asleep
Ravenna, Ohio police bodycam footage: two officers walk into an apartment building after a 911 caller reports a man asleep on a neighbor's floor with a gun in his pocket. When the door opens, the man is already awake - and the first thing Officer Brock Wise says about the gun in his hand is that he thinks it might be a BB gun.
Reconstructed timeline
Times from synchronized camera clocks and dispatch records.
6:34 PM
Ware sends a text reading "Today probably be my last day"
A cell-phone extraction of Ware's phone recovered a text message dated approximately 7 hours before the 01:34 call for service, part of a 3-message chain with a contact saved as "Mic Active." Precision: minute-level, back-calculated by BCI from the CFS time ("approximately 7 hours priors") - no…
9:30 PM
Ware threatens neighbor Richardson from his own apartment
Per Edward Richardson's account to police, while sitting on his couch Ware made comments indicating he knew where Richardson and his girlfriend sat in their apartment (directly below Ware's) and was 'going to shoot down at them,' and separately said he was going to a cousin's to retrieve a…
1:34 AM
Terry Conway's first 911 call: man with a gun sleeping on the floor
Conway calls 911, tells the dispatcher a male is sleeping on the floor with a gun, gives the address as 645 Hazen, and hangs up.
1:38 AM
Conway calls back: gun is in Ware's pocket, he was threatened with it earlier
Conway calls 911 back, says he's staying with a friend in Apt 3, the male is sleeping on the ground, gun in his pocket, and that the male had threatened him with it earlier. He is later steered by the dispatcher toward unlocking the door for officers.
1:39 AM
Officers Wise and Coy dispatched to the call
RPD Unit 29 (Officer Wise) and Unit 9 (Sgt. Coy) are dispatched/en route to 645 Hazen Ave, both having just come from an earlier menacing call involving Ware.
1:40 AM
Wise and Coy enter the apartment complex
The two officers enter 645 Hazen Avenue from the west side of the building and proceed downstairs into the lower level, approaching the door of Apartment 3.
1:41 AM
Wise makes contact; the apartment door opens
Officer Wise verbalizes contact with the occupants of Apt 3 and the front door comes open; Wise points his duty weapon inside and gives commands not to move.
1:41 AM
Ware rises from the floor holding what looks like a handgun
Ware, seen lying on the apartment floor, gets up onto his feet holding an object believed to be a handgun in his right hand while saying "fuck you all," ignoring repeated commands to put it down. An orange-handled butcher knife is visible on the floor where he had been sitting.
1:41 AM
Wise: "Drop it. I think it's a BB gun." Officers back away
Officer Wise says, verbatim, "drop it. I think its a BB gun," and both officers back away from the door to create distance. The door closes.
1:41 AM
Ware forces Conway out ahead of him as a human shield
The door reopens; Ware forces Conway out into the hallway ahead of him, his left arm over Conway's shoulder and the gun near Conway's head/body - what Sgt. Coy would later call a hostage/human-barricade situation. Conway can be heard saying "don't shoot me, don't shoot me, man."
1:42 AM
Ware advances on Sgt. Coy, who orders him to drop the gun
With Conway now clear, Ware advances east down the hallway toward Sgt. Coy, who has taken cover near the laundry room. Coy yells "Shawn, drop the gun"; Ware, per Coy's later interview, replies "fuck you" and keeps closing the distance with the gun pointed at Coy.
1:42 AM
Coy and Wise fire; Ware is struck and falls
Sgt. Coy fires three rounds and Officer Wise fires five rounds (eight total, per recovered casings and BCI firearms analysis) as Ware continues advancing with the gun in his hand; Ware falls backward onto the hallway floor, the object still in his right hand. Precision: minute-level ("1:42") per…
1:42 AM
Coy radios "shots fired"; checks on Wise
Immediately after the shooting, Sgt. Coy asks Officer Wise if he's okay ("you all right Brock" / "yeah I'm good") and radios RPD dispatch that shots were fired and more units are needed.
1:43 AM
Officers begin emergency first aid on Ware
Wise runs back inside with medical supplies and finds Ware down on the hallway carpet with visible blood; officers cut his clothing and apply gauze and direct pressure to his wounds, telling him repeatedly to stay with them.
1:46 AM
Coy secures the recovered handgun
Sgt. Coy states over BWC audio that he is securing the gun, which was located in Ware's right hand when he was shot, placing it in his marked Ravenna PD cruiser.
1:51 AM
Ravenna Fire EMS arrives on scene
Ravenna City Fire Department paramedics (unit 2312, dispatched 01:48 hours) arrive and take over care of Ware from officers.
1:52 AM
Chest compressions started
Per the CAD log, compressions are started on Ware (officers/first-arriving personnel lost his pulse after initially feeling one faintly).
2:35 AM
Ware is pronounced dead
Per the Ravenna Fire Department, time of death is 2:35 AM, pronounced by Dr. Pope.
Scene maps
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