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This picture from dashboard camera video provided by the Mercer County Sheriff office shows Moses Alik as he is confronted by law enforcement officers behind Dockside Marathon gas station at 303 S. Main St., Celina.
CELINA - A 22-year-old Celina man brandishing a knife was fatally shot by a Mercer County Sheriff's deputy early Tuesday morning outside Dockside Marathon after attempts to disable the suspect with a taser failed.
Moses Alik was transported by Celina Emergency Medical Services to Mercer County Community Hospital in Coldwater where he was pronounced dead, according to a news release from Mercer County Sheriff Jeff Grey.
The Celina Police Department, Mercer County Sheriff's Office and the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation and Identification on Tuesday morning process the scene at Dockside Marathon at 303 S. Main St.
Deputy Spencer Heinl, who was in Celina, went to back up Celina police officers at Dockside Marathon at 303 S. Main St. at 3:03 a.m. The original call was for a man with a knife, the release states.
When confronted by officers, the suspect, identified as Alik, reportedly brandished a knife. A Celina police officer deployed a taser but it did not disable Alik, according to the release.
Alik then raised the knife above his head and "charged at Deputy Heinl," the release states. Heinl discharged his firearm, striking Alik, who fell to the ground.
This picture from body camera video provided by the Mercer County Sheriff office shows Moses Alik as he is confronted by law enforcement officers behind Dockside Marathon gas station at 303 S. Main St., Celina. The circled annotation around the suspected weapon was done before the image was sent to the media.
Officers immediately called for EMS and started life-saving measures. Alik was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Body camera and cruiser camera footage provided by the sheriff's office shows three officers converging around Alik in the parking lot behind the gas station with their guns drawn.
Officers can be heard repeatedly ordering Alik to get on the ground and drop the knife. At one point, Alik, holding the knife above his head, advances toward Heinl. The deputy appears to fire five rounds at Alik, who then falls to the ground.
Heinl, as a matter of routine, was placed on administrative leave as the investigation is conducted.
"I want to stress, this is not disciplinary leave, this is a normal practice in law enforcement as investigations like this proceed," Grey said in the release.
An Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation and Identification truck is parked outside Dockside Marathon at 303 S. Main St. in Celina.
The sheriff's office contacted the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation and Identification and requested they complete an investigation into the incident. Agents arrived on scene Tuesday morning to begin their work.
Harsh Patel was helping out the night of the shooting at Dockside Marathon, which he said is his cousin's store.
Patel told The Daily Standard he and another worker witnessed a series of incidents that unfolded between around 2:30 a.m. and 3:30 a.m. involving a regular customer named "Doug" and a man in a purple coat, jeans and yellow shoes. The described outfit appears to match the clothing Alik was wearing in the two videos provided by the sheriff's office.
Patel said he personally saw the man in the purple coat come inside Dockside Marathon, and then watched footage from a camera showing some of the events taking place outside, including the deputy-involved shooting.
As usual, Doug popped in to buy a pack of cigarettes after finishing his shift at work, Patel said. He parked his car "right beside the parking lot," leaving the doors unlocked and the car running, according to Patel.
The man in the purple jacket tried to get into Doug's car, Patel said. Unable to gain entrance through the driver's door, the man then successfully got into the vehicle through the passenger-side front door.
"He was trying to … use the car and drive it off," Patel said. "Doug just got out (of the store) and saw … somebody stealing his car."
The man in the purple coat then came into the store for just a minute or two, walking about speedily. Patel said he initially asked the man if he had stolen something. He did not respond.
"He was looking around, like, you can say, a little shaken, like stressed," Patel said. "He walked into the store. We were … standing in the front of the counter. He got out from here, and Doug came in and just told me that 'Hey, call the cops, he was trying to steal my car.' That's why we called the cops."
The man in the purple coat "ran away, like, from the backside of the store somewhere," Patel said.
The sheriff's office requested BCI complete an investigation into the deputy-involved fatal shooting of Moses Alik.
Officers arrived and Patel said he showed them camera recordings.
"When the cops were here … he came back and the cops saw him (and asked), 'Hey, he's the guy?' We said yes," Patel recounted.
The man in the purple coat was out back and officers "came from all around the store," surrounding him, Patel said.
Patel said he was shaken by the ordeal.
"This is my first time I have heard shots and seen, like, someone die," he said, adding that he was "shaking from inside."
Patel said he never would have expected something like this to happen at his cousin's store. It's usually peaceful at night, he noted.
Half the block was taped off as officers, deputies and agents worked the scene where a 22-year-old Celina man was fatally shot during an encounter with authorities.
