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.
Victims
Eric Joering
Eric Joering (August 6, 1978 – February 10, 2018) was a Westerville Police Officer for 16 years at the time of his death. He graduated from Westerville South High School in 1997 and went on to attend the Columbus State Community College Police Program. He spent his 16 years with the Westerville Police Department working as a patrol officer, a detective, and as a K-9 officer with his dog partner Sam. He was married and had four daughters, Savanah, Ella Elena and Eva.
Anthony Morelli
Anthony Morelli was born on February 7, 1964, in Honolulu, Hawaii and was raised in Massillon, Ohio. He attended Washington High School, Kent State University, and the Ohio State Highway Patrol Officers Academy. Morelli worked for the Fairlawn Police Department for one year and the Westerville Police Department for 29 years. He was married in 1989 and had a daughter and a son. His grandchild was born after his death.
Perpetrator At the time of the murders, Quentin Smith (born February 23, 1987) was staying at a townhouse in Westerville, Ohio, where his wife Candace and their daughter lived. The Smiths had been separated for about a year and he was living with his mother in Cleveland but had come back to Westerville for a visit. Smith had married Candace in February 2014 and was abusive to her. Along with domestic violence, his arrest records, and convictions show a criminal history that involved burglary, motor vehicle theft, carrying a concealed weapon, intimation, aggravated menacing, simple assault, and felonious assault. Smith's defense lawyers said he has an IQ of 85 and had experienced mental illness and verbal abuse.
Previous arrests and charges In August 2007, in Euclid, Ohio, Smith's mother told police that Smith stabbed her boyfriend. According to Smith's mother, her boyfriend had tried to prevent Smith from taking her car after she kicked him out of the house. Smith's mother told police that Smith pointed a pellet gun at her boyfriend which her boyfriend knocked away. His mother's boyfriend told police this as well. Smith then allegedly pulled a three and a half inch knife and stabbed his mother's boyfriend in his left side and right hand. Smith, who told police that he was defending himself, was charged with two counts of felonious assault, one count of aggravated menacing and one count of theft of a motor vehicle by a Grand Jury, but those charges were dropped after the alleged victim did not appear in court to testify.
In May 2009, Smith plead guilty to committing a burglary with a firearm. Along with the burglary with a gun specification, he also pleaded guilty to one count of domestic violence. He was sentenced to three years in prison for the burglary with credit for 215 jail days. Smith was in prison from June 2009 to October 2011. During that stint, most of which was spent at the Richland Correctional Institution in Mansfield, he had one disciplinary-conduct report after entering another inmates cell and punching him. He sought early release but was denied. In a 2011 letter to the Court requesting early release, Smith wrote that he had successfully completed the “Thinking For a Change” program and was almost done with his barber training. He was issued a barber license in 2016 which expired in 2018. Following Smith's release from prison in 2011, he was placed on parole until November 2013.
During her marriage to Smith, Candace Smith frequently sought help from police regarding his abuse. In September 2017, she called to say that Smith was drunk and doing something to her car as he was moving out. Smith left without incident. On November 29, 2017, Candace Smith visited the Westerville Police Department to inquire about protection orders. She told officers that Smith had come home drunk earlier that week and forced himself on her sexually. She also told police that when she threatened to leave he would tell her he that would kill her, their daughter and himself and that Smith "has a gun that he carries all of the time, and if it isn't on him, it is close by." Candace left the department saying that she wanted to talk to her father first but 30 minutes later she and Smith got into an argument when she accused him of cheating on her and giving her a sexually transmitted infection. She locked Smith out and he responded by calling the police. Smith denied the allegations and refused to leave despite his wife's request. Police recommended that Candace and the baby stay in a different part of the house and that they contact them if the couple got into another argument. On January 20, 2018, Smith's mother called police to his house to report a disturbance but Smith and Candace said they did not need the police.
Though Smith was not allowed to own a firearm due to his criminal history, he paid Gerald Lawson 100 dollars to buy one for him.
Crime On February 8, 2018, Smith, who had been living in Cleveland with his mother after he and his wife separated, came back to Westerville to visit with his daughter. During the visit, he stayed at Candace's house. On February 10, Smith borrowed Candace's car to go to Walmart. Inside the car he found a book with the name of one of her male co-workers. That male co-worker had gotten a ride from Candace to his father's house to get a car, as his fiancée had cancer and had taken their car to a medical facility. Candace also used her car to take him and some other co-workers to a work-related seminar. Smith, however, believed that his wife was romantically involved with this co-worker and became enraged and started face-timing her from the store.
When Smith got home he physically assaulted Candace by punching her in the face with a closed fist and choking her with both hands until she lost consciousness. She woke up to him slapping her in the face and saying her name. Candace called 9-1-1 but hung up because she was scared that her husband would hear her talking to them. The police dispatchers called back but could only hear Candace's crying. The second call they made went to her voicemail.
Operators dispatched Joering and Morelli along with officer Timothy Ray to the Smiths' home. They responded at 12:10, eight minutes after the initial 9-1-1 call. Officer Ray went to the back of the house while Joering and Morelli went to the front. At 12:12 officers told dispatchers it was “all quiet right now” before knocking.
Before police arrived Smith confronted his wife carrying both his and her guns. He asked her to hold them as they went toward the door where Joering and Morelli were knocking. When she refused to hold them he stuck them in the cushions on the couch. When Smith saw that police were there he said to his wife, “You called the cops on me?” Smith opened the door and Joering and Morelli told the Smiths they were responding to a call about a domestic dispute. Candace moved the door back so they could see her and said: “He just got done beating me up and he has a gun.” She then stepped outside believing the officers would arrest Smith. Instead, Smith reached for the guns he had placed in the couch. The officers told him “Don’t do it, don’t do it” before he started shooting.
After Smith started shooting Candace ran outside. When the shooting stopped Candace went back in the house to get her daughter who was in the living room and found Joering down in doorway and Morelli tussling on the floor with Smith. More shots were fired and she ran back outside and hid in the bushes.
Smith shot Joering at point-blank range, killing him instantly. The autopsy showed that Joering had suffered three gunshot wounds. One shot went through his left arm and out his left shoulder. The other shot went through the inner part of his right wrist and out the outer part of his forearm. The fatal shot went through the left side of his forehead and through his frontal bone. It then traveled through the left cerebral hemisphere of his brain, fractured his skull, and went out the back of his neck. Morelli was shot on the left side of his chest through a gap in his bulletproof vest. The bullet went through his left lung, through the back covering of his heart and into the right lung, with the bullet being recovered from his right chest cavity. The officers managed to shoot Smith five times.
After shots were fired, Officer Ray went around to the front and inside the house where he found Joering, Morelli, and Smith all of whom had been shot. He tried to aid Joering but quickly realized that he was dead as he had no pulse and was shot in the forehead. He moved over to Morelli who was saying that he was hit. He tried to tend to Morelli while telling Smith, who was still trying to move, to stay down and keeping his gun pointed at him.
Candace, who was hiding in some bushes in the front yard, made a 9-1-1 call saying “My husband shot — he shot the police officers. Please hurry up. My daughter is in there.” Minutes later more officers arrived. Officer Stacey Pentecost testified that she found Morelli laying on the floor holding himself up by his elbow and Joering laying behind him on his side. Officer James Mason testified that Morelli was trying to crawl out of the doorway. Officer Mason and Officer Pentecost looked upstairs for more people and found no one. They then came back down and tried to aid Joering. It was after medics arrived that Pentecost noticed the Smiths' daughter on the couch. Medics tried to save Joering but couldn't. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Officer Dan Betts helped Officer Ray secure Smith and then went over to help Morelli and pulled him outside of the house. Morelli was still able to speak at this point and told Betts that he was having trouble breathing. Witnesses reported that after medics arrived Morelli stopped speaking and appeared to lose consciousness. He was taken to The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center in Columbus in critical condition where he later died. The Smiths' daughter, who was fifteen months old, was later found by officers on the couch silent and unharmed.
Aftermath and legal proceedings After the murders, Smith was taken to the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center where he stayed for eight days.