A small Ohio news organization said one of its photographers was shot by a sheriff's deputy Monday night while he set up to take pictures of a random traffic stop.
Andy Grimm "had his camera in his hand" when he was shot in his side by a Clark County sheriff's deputy in New Carlisle, which north of Dayton, The New Carlisle News said in a Facebook post.
He was rushed to Miami Valley Hospital for surgery and is expected to recover.
Grimm had left the newsroom around 10 p.m. on Monday to take pictures of a lightning storm, the paper said. While he was taking pictures, a traffic stop occurred on the same road, according to the article.
"I was going out to take pictures and I saw the traffic stop and I thought, 'Hey, cool. I'll get some pictures here.'" he told the newspaper. He said he pulled into a parking lot in full view of the deputy, got out of his Jeep and started setting up his tripod and camera. "I turned around toward the cars and then 'pop, pop."
The newspaper speculated that the deputy may have mistaken the camera for a weapon. Grimm said the deputy, identified in reports as Jake Shaw, gave him no warning.
"I was just doing my job," he said. "I know Jake. I like Jake. I don't want him to lose his job over this."
Sources told the newspaper that there was “some confusion” surrounding the shooting.
“I just talked to Andy and he said that he is very sore, but in good spirits,” Dale Grimm, the photographer's father and publisher of the New Carlisle News, told Fox News. “He said the hospital expects to be releasing him Tuesday. He also stressed that he does not want the deputy to lose his job over this.”
The Dayton Daily News reports the case has been turned over to the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation.
“This is a small town. Everybody knows everybody. It was just a terrible misunderstanding,” his father said
