Kettering police Lt. Michael Gabrielson said Wednesday that the department’s internal affairs division investigates simultaneously to the criminal process but that he didn’t have any estimates on when the internal probe would be complete.
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The incident was the second officer-involved fatal shooting in Kettering in a year. Jason Hoops was shot and killed by officer Jonathon McCoy on Aug. 27, 2017. McCoy also was cleared by a grand jury.
McCoy had given nearly 30 commands to Hoops, a passenger in a gray Ford van after McCoy saw Hoops had a gun in his right front pocket. Many of McCoy’s commands included swear words as he yelled, “You reach for that gun, I will blow your brains out, do you (expletive) understand me?”
DiSalvo shot and killed Simmons at the Chatham Village Apartment complex. The Montgomery County Coroner’s Office ruled Simmons’ death a homicide and that he died of multiple gunshot wounds.
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DiSalvo joined Kettering’s police department in 2009, has been a K-9 officer since 2013 and was was appointed to the SWAT team in 2012.
DiSalvo is a Centerville High School graduate, attended Otterbein College and graduated from the Ohio State Highway Patrol Academy.
DiSalvo arrived at 5114 Scarsdale Drive after a 911 caller described a woman being attacked in a neighboring apartment and hearing cries for help.
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“There was a woman screaming very loudly. She was screaming ‘Help me! Help me!’ I can hear her and she kept screaming ‘Get off, get off. I can’t breathe. You broke my nose. My nose is bleeding and I can’t breathe,’” a neighbor said in the first of two 911 calls.
Police said DiSalvo could hear the argument between Simmons and a woman and advised dispatchers he was forcing entry into the apartment. Police said gunfire was exchanged but DiSalvo was not hit. First aid was rendered, but Simmons was pronounced deceased a short time later.
“When an officer sees an armed suspect brandishing a firearm at another person, the officer has a duty to stop that suspect,” Montgomery County Prosecutor Mat Heck Jr. said in a press release. A prosecutor’s office spokesman didn’t immediately return a message seeking additional information.
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On Tuesday, a Simmons family spokesperson issued a statement: “We intend to review the entire investigative file and will comment at that time.”
The spokesperson did not immediately return a phone call Wednesday for additional comment.
DiSalvo’s personnel file reflects good performance reviews apart from a March 2010 violation of policy and procedure.
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DiSalvo’s 2016 and 2017 yearly reviews in said he performed at “Outstanding” or “Above Standards” levels. Kettering police Chief Chip Protsman wrote, “without your willingness to take on extra assignments, this organization would not be as successful.”
Simmons, a 2012 Beavercreek High School grad, was working at Wright-Patt Credit Union as a fraud investigator. He had recently interviewed with Kettering police to become a law enforcement officer in the city, according to Gabrielson.
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