Family: Man killed in officer-involved shooting ‘wasn’t a bad guy’

MIAMI TWP., Montgomery County — Family and friends of a man killed during an officer-involved shooting early Wednesday at the Oakwood Village mobile home park question whether he understood what was happening.

Robert Edwards, 33, was shot and killed by police when he would not drop a weapon they later discovered was a pellet gun, Miami Twp. police Capt. John Magill said.

Shawna Stoff, grandmother to Edwards’ son, described him as a good person with a big heart.

"In 14 years ... my grandson's gonna Google his dad. And all he's going to see is that they thought he was a threat," said Shawna Stoff of Franklin. “I want the world to know he wasn’t a bad guy.

“If somebody needed a place to stay he didn’t care if he knew them or not,” she said.

Stoff said she and Edwards became family when he started dating her daughter and they had 19-month-old Zachary. They have since split, but Stoff said she continues to look after him in part because of what she described as developmental delays.

“He was still like dealing with a 13-year-old boy. That young man ... he wouldn’t have known how to react,” she said of the shooting that happened shortly after midnight.

Amber Plymesser -- who said she’s been friends with Edwards for years -- and her two daughters have been staying at his mobile home.

“He was a great person. He was not violent at all,” Plymesser said.

She said Edwards likely would not have had the time to process what was happening before the shots went off.

“When he opened the door, the next thing I hear is ‘Stop freeze.’ Then three gunshots, and then he was on the floor,” Plymesser said.

Miami Twp. police said that is not the case. They said they repeatedly asked Edwards to put down his weapon. Later, they discovered his weapon was a pellet gun.

“I feel sympathetic to the police officer that fired the gun ... and very angry with him at the same time,” Stoff said.

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