A deputy fatally shot a 16-year-old in an Ohio courtroom when a fight broke out involving the teen, his family, and the officer on Wednesday, a sheriff's office investigator said. The teen, Joseph Haynes, was struck once in the abdomen during the fight.
The incident began as an early afternoon hearing concluded in a domestic relations courtroom in Columbus, said Rick Minerd, investigations chief with the Franklin County (OH) Sheriff's Office.
Haynes died about 30 minutes later at a nearby downtown hospital, reports CBS News.
Events unfolded as a judge wrapped up a hearing involving a firearms charge against the teen and an electronic monitoring device the court assigned him earlier in the case, Minerd said.
Haynes' lawyer, Jennifer Brisco, told the Columbus Dispatch that the teen grew upset when the deputy threatened to arrest him. Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O'Brien told the newspaper the teen was also upset by a judge's order that he continue to wear an electronic monitoring device.
The deputy was knocked to the ground and fired a shot, he said.
Minerd didn't identify the deputy, saying the investigation is ongoing. The deputy also was injured and was being treated at a hospital, but he wasn't shot, Minerd said.
