MARYSVILLE – A Union County grand jury has cleared a sheriff’s deputy of wrongdoing in the fatal shooting of a man during a domestic disturbance earlier this year.
The panel found that the actions of Deputy Jacob Matejko during the incident on May 30 were justified and that Matthew Todhunter, 33, was attempting to commit “suicide by cop,” Union County Prosecuting Attorney David Phillips said.
“The statements Todhunter made to his family members immediately prior to the shooting showed his apparent suicidal intentions,” Phillips said.
“Suicide by cop” is a term used to refer to an incident where a person who intends to take their own life forces law enforcement authorities to respond to their actions with deadly force, Phillips said.
Matejko shot Todhunter after dispatchers received several 911 calls from persons inside a home on Meadowlark Lane in Marysville reporting that Todhunter was intoxicated, had a gun and was acting “crazy,” threatening to shoot his estranged wife, Phillips said.
Callers told dispatchers that there were children inside the home and that Todhunter was pointing the gun at the people there, reportedly telling one child that “this was the night [Todhunter] was going to die,” Phillips said.
Matejko was inside the 911 dispatch center when the call came in and was the first to arrive at the scene where he found Todhunter sitting in his truck outside the home.
The deputy ordered Todhunter to put his hands up and to show his hands and Todhunter complied but when he got out of the vehicle he had “what appeared to be a Glock-style handgun in his right hand,” Phillips said.
Matejko yelled for Todhunter to drop the gun but the man brought the gun up to a “shooting stance, pointing the weapon directly at the deputy,” Phillips said.
The deputy fired his weapon, striking Todhunter, and officers immediately rendered aid, but Todhunter died later, Phillips said.
It was determined that the weapon Todhunter had been carrying was a pellet gun.
“There is simply no way the officer could determine this was a replica firearm,” Phillips said. “It appears to be a Glock-style handgun, with no indication on the weapon it was not a real firearm.”
An investigation by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation revealed Todhunter appeared to be suicidal and the Union County Coroner’s Office determined the manner of death was suicide, Phillips said.