Ohio officer fired after deadly shooting at corrections training range

Watch a previous NBC4 report on the fatal shooting in the video player above.

ORIENT, Ohio (WCMH) -- An Ohio special operations officer has been fired after he was charged with fatally shooting a 43-year-old lieutenant during a training exercise earlier this year.

The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction said 45-year-old David Pearson will be terminated effective Sept. 3. The department's director Annette Chambers-Smith determined that Pearson's employment would be terminated after she was briefed on the investigation on Monday, a spokesperson said.

Pearson's firing comes after a Pickaway County grand jury charged him on July 12 with negligent homicide, a misdemeanor punishable by a maximum of six months in jail. He's facing the charge in connection with the death of Rodney Osborne in April, according to court documents.

Osborne was fatally shot just before 11:30 a.m. April 9 at the academy's tactical firing range, according to Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction director Annette Chambers-Smith. The lieutenant received emergency care on scene from fellow trainees before he was taken to Mount Carmel Grove City, where he was pronounced dead.

Later that month, an Ohio State Highway Patrol incident report revealed that the fatal shooting was being investigated as a reckless homicide. While the report had not revealed who was being charged, a statement from the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction noted that Pearson, a west regional special operations commander, was placed on administrative leave beginning on April 10.

Pearson began his tenure with the Warren Correctional Institution in 2005 and has served in his current role since 2021.

Osborne had served with the department for 13 years and worked at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Scioto County. He was also part of the facility’s honor guard, had been named employee of the year earlier that month, and was a member of the special response team and the statewide special tactics and response team.

In late May, Osborne's family announced that they had hired a lawyer, Mark Kitrick, who is the president of Kitrick Lewis and Harris Law Firm. At the time, Kitrick said Osborne’s wife and kids still have so many questions.

"I'm going to heavily investigate the case. Look at every possible angle as to what could have happened. For example, why would an employee even pull a gun and point it at another employee, loaded or unloaded? It violates every safety rule there is in this business," said Kitrick. "Was there something defective about the vest? Was the pistol malfunctioning where the safety guard was removed or deliberately removed?'