CLEVELAND (WJW) — The FOX 8 I-Team has found the case of a shooting at a city of Cleveland garage has ended in mystery.
This week, a woman went to prison for the shooting. That came days after the city fired the worker who had been shot.
But through it all, investigators may never know the motive behind what happened.
1 dead, 2 hurt in Richland County house explosion The shooting took place in April at a city streets department garage.
Police body camera video shows officers arresting Aisha Schwartz.
You hear them shout, “Where’s the gun? Step out of the car,” and, “Where’s the person shot?”
A 911 caller told dispatchers, “One guy’s been shot, and this girl’s down here with a gun.”
Investigators said Schwartz followed a streets department foreman as he showed up for work.
Cleveland police and Cuyahoga County prosecutors found Schwartz shot Reginald Smith with his own gun.
They said she climbed into his personal truck, grabbed a gun he had inside and shot him in the shoulder.
As Schwartz was arrested, you can hear her on the police video saying, “I don’t want him to die. Sir, I’m sorry. I’m not a bad person.”
This week, the mystery grew. The I-Team revealed the city fired that worker who had been shot for bringing a gun into the workplace.
The city Human Resources Department pointed out it’s against city policy to bring a gun onto city property — and Smith is a former cop.
Yet, days after getting fired, we saw Smith show up in court seeking justice. He spoke out before the sentencing of Aisha Schwartz.
“I saw my life flash before me,” he told the court.
But Smith told the court he couldn’t explain what happened. Schwartz said she couldn’t explain it either.
“I keep asking myself, ‘Why me? Why me? What have I done to Ms. Schwartz?'”
Schwartz told the court, “I wouldn’t be able to pick him out if I seen him in public.”
She sat in a wheelchair due to a medical problem.
Man who reported young girl missing is charged with her murder, Sandusky police say In the meantime, Judge Nancy Margaret Russo wanted some explanation.
“You don’t have any idea why you shot him?” the judge asked.
Schwartz shook her head and said, “No.”
Judge Russo concluded, “A prison term is appropriate.”
She sent Schwartz to prison for 9 to 12 years.
All of that and still the case ends without anything to shed light on why the shooting happened.
Police, prosecutors and the city Human Resources Department all were unable to determine a motive for the shooting.
The city Department of Human Resources found Smith had worked in law enforcement for over 28 years and was a police officer for many years for the city of Cleveland.
A disciplinary letter reads: “He knew, or reasonably should have known, that bringing a loaded firearm into his place of work was a violation of policy, especially if left unsecured.”
The city also found Smith brought a loaded gun every day to job with the streets department. The discipline file shows “Smith stated that he carries the handgun because he is an ex-police officer and has been threatened in the past by people he arrested in his former career.”
The city concluded, “The fact that Smith brought the loaded weapon into the building, and failed to secure it, was a serious violation. It caused the lives of himself and of his co-workers to be in serious imminent danger.”
New developments in Browns stadium talks: I-Team Another factor in the termination was Smith’s disciplinary history, dating back to when he was a city police officer.
Records show “he retired in October 2016 after he had been indicted” in Cleveland for felonious assault and unauthorized use of property.
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