Daniel K. Holt, 34, was shot by Dayton Police sergeants Mark Ponichtera and Andrew Gillig at about 5:20 p.m. Sunday in Island Metropark and died at Miami Valley Hospital.
“Everything I am aware of up to this point – with the understanding that these investigations are ongoing – indicates the officers responded appropriately to a lethal threat,” Biehl said.
Holt was living in River Commons II, a supportive housing complex for people who have struggled with homelessness. Dayton Police reports show three occasions between November 2010 and May 2011 when Holt described himself as suicidal and was taken to a hospital for a 72-hour psychiatric hold.
In a 2010 call to Crisis Care, Holt said he wanted to hurt himself and had access to a gun, but no gun was found. In 2011, he walked onto the ice of a frozen pond in an attempt to kill himself, according to Dayton police reports.
Biehl said Dayton police have only preliminary information about where Holt might have gotten the SKS rifle, a semi-automatic designed in the Soviet Union more than 50 years ago.
“We are attempting to determine where that rifle was obtained,” Biehl said. “I don’t have a definitive answer, and that is a part of the investigation that I am intensely interested in.”
Several recent, prominent shootings, including the Newtown, Conn., school massacre, have led to calls for tighter restrictions on gun ownership for those with mental health problems.
Dayton police released a note found on Holt after the shooting that read in part, “Please forgive me, God.”
Sgt. Robert Rike of Dayton police’s Professional Standards Bureau said Holt’s death marked the first fatal officer-involved shooting by a Dayton police officer since 2008. There were five incidents that year in which officers fired their weapons, two of them fatal. Since 2009, Rike said Dayton officers have fired their weapons in the line of duty only seven times, resulting in no fatalities.
Sunday’s first 911 call, at 4:40 p.m., came from a staff member at River Commons, saying that Holt had just walked into the building with a gun tucked under a blanket or small rug.
Dayton police Sgt. Dan Mauch said officers responded to the site and even knocked on Holt’s apartment door, but heard no response and did not have cause to enter the apartment without a warrant.
Then between 5:14 and 5:19 p.m., police received five more 911 calls, with several people saying a man carrying a gun was walking down Helena Street toward Island MetroPark. One caller said Holt was cocking the weapon as if preparing to fire it, and another caller said he was pointing the rifle at passing vehicles.
The in-car camera from Sgt. Gillig’s cruiser shows Ponichtera exit his cruiser and point his gun at Holt. Holt can be seen walking toward Ponichtera with the rifle raised and pointing at him. As Gillig rushes toward the scene, both sergeants can be heard yelling, “Drop it” and “Put it down, sir.”
When Holt did not comply, the officers fired a total of five shots. Biehl said Holt was hit multiple times.
Ponichtera is a 20-year Dayton Police veteran, and Gillig is a 11-year veteran, who was promoted one month ago.
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