Murders of Eric Joering and Anthony Morelli

rdf:langString Murders of Eric Joering and Anthony Morelli

rdf:langString A memorial for officers Anthony Morelli and Eric Joering outside the Westerville Police Department in February 2018

rdf:langString Quentin Smith

rdf:langString Eric Joering and Anthony "Tony" Morelli were police officers who were murdered on February 10, 2018, in Westerville, Ohio after responding to a domestic violence incident. Joering, 39, and Morelli, 54, were shot and killed by Quentin Smith, who had punched and choked his wife, leading to her making a 9-1-1 hangup call. When the police officers arrived, Smith shot Joering three times in both of his arms and in his head. Morelli was shot once in the chest with the bullet going through his heart and lungs. Joering, who had been a police officer for 16 years in Westerville, died at the scene,while Morelli, who had been a police officer for 30 years, died later in the hospital. Smith, who was 30 at the time and who was prohibited from having a gun, was shot five times but survived. Smith had an extensive criminal history involving burglary, intimidation, aggravated menacing, domestic violence, and felonious assault.He was tried in October 2019, and convicted for the murders on November 1, 2019. For perhaps the first time in Ohio, family members of the victims gave victim impact statements to the jury during the sentencing phase of a capital case. The jury recommended that Smith be sentenced to life in prison although some members of the jury reported that their fellow jurors refused to consider the death penalty. The murders garnered a significant response, with both Governor John Kasich and President Donald Trump commenting on them. Both victims have been remembered in several ways, including by having part of a highway named after them, and by having their cruiser doors displayed in Washington D.C. as part of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial for National Police Week.