Police Brutality / Individual record
Paul Gaston
The Washington Post's Fatal Force database records Paul Gaston in a fatal on-duty police shooting on 2016-02-17 in Cincinnati, OH. Individual circumstances and legal outcome require case-specific review.
- Record ID
- PB-367
- Incident date
- February 17, 2016
- Outcome
- Fatal
- Location
- Cincinnati, OH
- Agency
- Cincinnati Police Department
- Category
- Fatal on-duty police shooting
- Age (reported)
- 37
What happened
Paul Gaston, 37, was shot and killed by three Cincinnati officers in the Westwood neighborhood on February 17, 2016, after witnesses reported he crashed a pickup into a pole and walked away carrying what looked like a handgun. Officers found him on Harrison Avenue and ordered him to kneel, then lie on the ground. Video showed Gaston initially lowering himself before raising up and reaching toward his waistband. Officers Scott McManus, Paul Kohler and Zachary Sterbling fired nine rounds. The object was an Airsoft gun, not a conventional firearm. Police Chief Eliot Isaac and Mayor John Cranley defended the shooting as justified by the weapon's realistic appearance. The facts that Gaston initially complied and carried a replica are important to the dispute over the immediate danger.
Investigation & findings
Individual legal and investigative outcome not yet reviewed.
Washington Post Fatal Force v2; 2015–2024
Source record details
- Source incident ID
- 1281
- Race code in source
- B
- Race source method
- not_available
- Gender (source)
- male
- Armed status (source)
- replica
- Flee status (source)
- other
- Agency IDs (source)
- 577
Sources & records
- Primary source
- Additional source
- Methodology and national police killings trackingMapping Police Violence · Dataset/methodology
- Fatal Force v2 — fatal on-duty police shootings, 2015–2024The Washington Post · Dataset