Michael S. Oswalt II, a 41-year-old man previously involved in a Columbus highway standoff, has been fatally shot by SWAT officers in Mansfield following a domestic incident. The incident occurred early this past Saturday at a residence on the 200 block of Cline Avenue when Mansfield police responded to a domestic violence call around 1:56 a.m., as NBC4i.com reported. Officers arriving on the scene were met by Oswalt, who was armed with a knife and appeared to be intoxicated and fled back inside the home where his girlfriend's two small children were present.
According to WBNS, negotiations ensued for three hours, during which the children could leave the house. Trapped inside the house, the female victim later attempted to flee, with Oswalt chasing her with the knife. Officers attempted to subdue Oswalt using less lethal munitions, which proved ineffective, eventually leading them to resort to deadly force.
This was not Oswalt's first altercation with law enforcement. Earlier in August, he had been involved in a four-vehicle crash on Interstate 70 over state Route 315, which escalated into a standoff with Columbus police. Oswalt, then wielding a snowplow, reportedly threw construction tools at officers upon their arrival, including a wrench that struck an officer in the face, as detailed in the FOX28 report. This led to his arrest and a felony charge of assaulting a police officer, for which he was later released on a $2,000 bond.
In a press release obtained by FOX28, body-worn camera footage revealed Oswalt’s menacing stance, denying being on crack as accused by the woman, and predicting the police's potential reaction, "They're going to shoot me in front of your children if you keep calling the cops." SWAT officers, faced with the necessity after Oswald chased the girlfriend, deployed lethal measures upon the failure of less-than-lethal efforts.
