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The Enquirer Cincinnati
Kevin Grasha and Cameron Knight, Cincinnati
Published 6:50 p.m. ET Aug. 8, 2016 | Updated 9:13 a.m. ET Aug. 9, 2016
Jawari Porter had a history of mental illness dating back at least five years, and a family member told The Enquirer that Porter’s violent actions Sunday likely happened because he didn’t take his medication.
“I know he had problems, but that’s not the Jawari I know,” Porter’s niece, 33-year-old Chanel Mincey, told The Enquirer. “I don’t know the person that supposedly did all those crimes Downtown Sunday morning. The Jawari I know is a kind, loving uncle.”
As recently as March, the 25-year-old Porter was receiving in-patient treatment at University of Cincinnati Hospital’s psychiatric unit, according to Hamilton County Probate Court records. The most recent application for continued commitment was filed March 22.
Porter, however, was discharged from the hospital a week later, for reasons that are not clear. The probate court documents detailing the case are not public. The case was dismissed June 22.
Mincey said Porter had checked himself into a hospital in recent months for a few days.
“He knew he had issues he had to take care of,” Mincey said.
At about 7:20 a.m. Sunday, Porter robbed the Kroger store at 1420 Vine St., and held a knife to a security guard who tried to stop him. Twenty minutes later, surveillance video shows Porter, armed with a knife, rush to the driver’s side of a Cincinnati police SUV and repeatedly try to stab Officer Anthony Brucato. Brucato fired six shots, striking Porter in the chest and abdomen.
Recently, Porter was homeless and had been sleeping in a local park, according to people who knew him. He received mail at the offices of the Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition.
Last summer, he was charged in Hamilton County Municipal Court with assaulting two people – apparently at random – at the Downtown Horseshoe Casino, now Jack Cincinnati Casino.
According to a police report, on July 31, 2015 Porter punched a woman in the face “without provocation” and then “charged” at a man. He continued to attack the man after a police officer used a Taser, court documents say. A police report says the man and woman didn’t know Porter.
At the time, court documents show Porter was living in an apartment in Elmwood Place that is owned by the Hamilton County Mental Health and Recovery Services Board.
The municipal court charges were dismissed in September 2015 because of Porter’s mental illness, and the case was sent to probate court.
That same month, a judge granted an order for forced medication treatment. Probate court records show applications for “continued commitment” to a psychiatric hospital were filed in December 2015 and March 22 of this year.
On March 28, a request for in-patient treatment was withdrawn.
Porter’s attorney, Ronald Panioto, did not return a message seeking comment.
In the 2011 case, Porter was charged with disorderly conduct and public indecency.
“Mr. Porter was completely nude,” according to a complaint.
Those charges also were dismissed because of Porter’s mental illness, and he was ordered to undergo treatment overseen by Hamilton County Probate Court. He was in and out of hospitals over the next several years.
The court was overseeing Porter in July 2015 when the incident at the casino happened.
Jeff O’Neil, who heads Greater Cincinnati Behavioral Health Services, said there are many resources in the community to help people like Porter. He declined to comment specifically about Porter.
“Sometimes people do well for a while, other times they regress or re-experience problems,” O’Neil said.
Some people don’t receive help because they won’t accept it, he said. They stop seeking treatment or taking their medications.
“What we can’t measure is the thousands and thousands of situations that are helped and prevented through routine interventions,” he said.
Porter is a former foster child. Hamilton County Job and Family Services was involved with him for much of his life, JFS spokesman Brian Gregg said. Gregg said Porter would have “aged out of our system” sometime in 2011.
“We have not had contact for several years,” Gregg said.
Mincey, Porter’s niece, said he grew up in Roselawn and graduated from Taft High School before attending the University of Cincinnati for about two years.
“He was fun to be around and talkative,” she said.
The shooting, she said, has devastated the family.
“We’re not doing to well. My momma’s been crying,” she said. “It just hit us bad.”