New records on shooting at Ohio prisons training reveal instructor's deadly mistake

An Ohio prisons firearms instructor didn't follow a "cardinal" safety rule during a training exercise in April and that cost Lt. Rodney Osborne his life , according to new records released to Osborne's family.

David Pearson, the lead instructor in the class, stepped in front of Osborne to offer pointers on what was supposed to be a dry fire exercise − no live rounds. Pearson drew his weapon, pointed it at Osborne and fired, the Ohio Highway Patrol report said.

While students had emptied their weapons of ammunition and double-checked one another's firearms, Pearson did not.

One witness said Osborne dropped to the ground, saying "you shot me!", while another witness said Osborne uttered "oh f---"

All the students, including Osborne, were wearing tactical gear, including bulletproof vests.

Before the tragic shooting, Pearson briefed students on firearms safety, including one of the "cardinal" rules: never point a weapon at something you don't intend to destroy, according to the patrol investigation.

Since April 9, Osborne's family has been in the dark about how the 43-year-old husband and father was killed during firearms training at the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction training facility in Pickaway County.

All they knew was Pearson , 44, was indicted in July on a single negligent homicide charge in connection with the shooting. If convicted, he faces up to 180 days in jail and a $1,000 fine.

Pearson, of West Chester Township in Butler County, is a highly-trained officer who's worked as a firearms instructor for Ohio prisons for at least a decade.

After months of The Dispatch and Osborne's family requesting the incident report from the Ohio State Highway Patrol , the Osborne family's attorney Mark Kitrick obtained the report and released it to The Dispatch.

Bobbie Osborne, Rodney Osborne's wife, told The Dispatch the report still doesn't answer her biggest question: why Pearson did what he did.

"The report didn't tell us why he didn't clear his gun. Nobody knows why he did what he did," Osborne said. "It doesn’t make sense how somebody trained (as an instructor) could make that many mistakes."

Bobbie Osborne previously told The Dispatch her "heart aches for her husband every single second of every day."

After the shooting, Pearson appeared to be in shock and crying, witnesses said.

Witnesses described the shooting and the chaotic scene that followed. Students began chest compressions on Osborne, called 911, loaded Osborne into a pickup truck and rushed him to the nearest hospital.

Read the patrol's summary report here:

Laura A. Bischoff is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio .

jlaird@dispatch.com

@LairdWrite

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: New records on shooting at Ohio prisons training reveal instructor's deadly mistake