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Randall Fife

Age : 35

Gender : Male

Race : White

Date : 08/25/2023

Location : 3639 Highlawn Avenue SE

City : Howland

County : Howland

State : Ohio

Agency : Howland Township Police Department; Mahoning Valley Crisis Response Team

Officer(s) :Unknown

Cause of Death : Gunshot

Event : Killed by police during mental health crisis

OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY :

On 08/22/2023, at approximately 8:10 p.m., Howland Township police responded to 3639 Highlawn Avenue SE after family members reported that 35-year-old Randall Fife was armed with a shotgun and experiencing an acute mental health crisis. Fife's brother and mother barricaded themselves in a bedroom, while his brother's girlfriend hid upstairs and communicated with police.
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Fife's mother later told investigators that he had been experiencing paranoia and delusions and believed people were pursuing him. According to the subsequent prosecutor's investigation, when his mother returned from getting groceries, Fife answered the door holding a 12-gauge single-shot shotgun and said people were after him and that he needed to protect himself. He also expressed doubts that his mother and brother were actually who they appeared to be.
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When Fife's brother came downstairs, police alleged that Fife pointed the shotgun at his face. His brother and mother then barricaded themselves in a rear bedroom. Fife's sister, who was outside the residence, was asked to call police, while the girlfriend remained hidden upstairs.
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Howland police arrived and reported seeing Fife standing at a window holding what was later identified as the shotgun. Officers withdrew to protected positions, established a perimeter and attempted to communicate with him using a patrol vehicle's loudspeaker. Police also attempted telephone contact; Fife briefly answered but ended the call.
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The Mahoning Valley Crisis Response Team was activated along with negotiators. Police continued attempting to communicate with Fife for more than 10 hours. His mother remained in communication with dispatch from inside the barricaded bedroom and reported that Fife was pacing through the house.
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The later Ohio BCI investigation documented significant prior mental-health concerns. Howland police had encountered Fife during at least three earlier mental-health incidents. During one January 2023 response, officers were dispatched because Fife was hallucinating and threatening a person he believed was impersonating his mother; officers found numerous knives on him during that encounter.
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At approximately 6:35 a.m. on 08/23/2023, after communication with one of the people trapped inside the residence was lost and police feared a hostage might have been injured, members of the Mahoning Valley Crisis Response Team used an explosive charge to breach the rear kitchen entrance.
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According to the BCI and prosecutor investigations, Fife fired the single-shot 12-gauge shotgun at the entering tactical officers, striking four officers with buckshot. Police then fired approximately 18 rounds at Fife while he was reloading the shotgun. Fife was struck four times, with wounds to his head, shoulder, waist and back.
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Fife was transported first to St. Joseph Warren Hospital and then flown to St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital. The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation opened an independent investigation into the shooting at the request of Howland Police Chief Nick Roberts.
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Fife remained hospitalized for several days and died from his police gunshot wounds on 08/28/2023. Although the original WFMJ death report stated that he died Friday, August 25, the subsequent official Ohio BCI case-opening report specifically records that Fife died Monday, August 28 while hospitalized. The later Trumbull County prosecutor review likewise gives August 28 as his date of death.
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Ohio BCI's Special Investigations Unit conducted the independent investigation, including interviews with officers, hostages and witnesses; examination of body-camera footage; crime-scene and firearms analysis; review of Fife's medical and mental-health records; and review of his previous encounters with Howland police. The Ohio Attorney General has since made an extensive collection of investigative documents, photographs, audio and video from the case publicly available.
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In July 2024, Trumbull County Prosecutor Dennis Watkins completed the criminal review of the shooting. The prosecutor concluded that the three officers who fired at Fife used legally justified deadly force. The case was closed without presentation to a grand jury and without criminal charges against the officers.
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OFFICER BACKGROUND:
The Ohio BCI investigation establishes that three members of the Mahoning Valley Crisis Response Team fired during the confrontation with Fife. The publicly released BCI materials refer to the involved shooters by numbered officer designations rather than reliably identifying all three by name. I therefore have not assigned names to the Officer(s) field.
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The tactical team included personnel drawn from multiple area police departments. Officers Kenneth Garling and Nicholas Newland were among the officers injured during the breach and were transported for medical treatment, but the later reporting does not establish that those two officers were necessarily among the three officers whose gunfire struck Fife.
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The Trumbull County Prosecutor's Office reviewed the actions of all three shooting officers and announced on 07/30/2024 that none would face criminal charges. The prosecutor determined that police gunfire occurred after Fife fired the shotgun into the tactical entry team and while he was reloading the single-shot weapon.

SOURCE LINKS :

https://www.wfmj.com/story/49549407/coroner-suspect-in-howland-standoff-dies
https://www.wfmj.com/story/49486327/suspect-in-howland-standoff-charged-with-domestic-violence-kidnapping
https://www.wfmj.com/story/51105632/no-charges-filed-against-officers-involved-in-deadly-2023-standoff-in-howland
https://www.tribtoday.com/news/local-news/2023/08/report-sheds-light-on-howland-standoff/
https://www.tribtoday.com/news/local-news/2024/07/howland-police-and-crt-agents-cleared-in-fatal-shooting-of-suspect/
https://ohioattorneygeneral.gov/SpecialPages/Investigative-Documents