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911 Caller In Crawford Case Won't Be Charged

A special prosecutor says a 911 caller won't be charged for reporting a man waving a gun in an Ohio Wal-Mart before police fatally shot him.

The decision was announced Monday by Mark Piepmeier, the same prosecutor who presented the case to a grand jury. It concluded the August 2014 shooting of 22-year-old John Crawford III at the Beavercreek store, near Dayton, was justified.

The 911 caller told investigators he thought Crawford had a real firearm, but it was actually an air rifle Crawford had picked up from the shelf.

Activists who used an obscure law to push for the caller's prosecution were upset that Piepmeier was appointed to review the matter. They noted that Piepmeier had previously described the caller as someone "trying to be a good citizen."

Stories from the Associated Press.