A stolen-car investigation in Cincinnati spiraled into a sprawling neighborhood manhunt and ultimately a fatal police shooting after three young men fled from a vehicle connected to a shooting investigation.

The May 1, 2025, incident began in East Price Hill after police located a vehicle on Warsaw Avenue that had been stolen earlier that day from Edgewood, Kentucky. According to the footage, the owner had tracked the car using GPS.

Inside were three young men later identified as Ryan Hinton, De’Anthony Bullock and Jerrell Austin.

When officers approached, all three ran.

What followed involved patrol officers, drones, K9 teams, repeated searches of yards and wooded areas, two mistaken detentions — and, hours later, an armed confrontation that ended with 18-year-old Hinton dead.

Three Suspects Run From the Stolen Car

The situation immediately became more serious because officers believed the stolen vehicle was connected to a recent shooting.

Police spread through East Price Hill, searching streets, alleys, buildings and wooded areas while trying to locate the three fleeing suspects.

One man was soon stopped near a library nearly two miles from the original encounter.

He matched the description officers were working with, and police initially believed they had caught one of the suspects.

The man repeatedly denied involvement.

He told officers that if he had committed a crime, he would have run when he saw police.

He also denied firing a weapon.

Officers eventually conducted a gunshot-residue test.

The result came back clean.

Police determined they had detained the wrong person and released him.

All three actual suspects were still missing

A Stolen Gun Adds Another Layer of Danger

While officers continued searching, another report came in from a woman who said a handgun had been stolen from her vehicle.

She told police she had owned the firearm for several years but did not immediately have its serial number.

Officers took the report and explained that identifying information could later be added to the system.

At the time, police did not yet know how important the stolen gun report might become.

According to the transcript, investigators would later connect that firearm to one of the fleeing suspects.

That possibility changed the risk calculation.

Police were no longer simply searching for people who had run from a stolen car.

They now had reason to consider that at least one of the men could be armed.

Officers Search Buildings, Woods and Backyards

As hours passed, more officers joined the operation.

Search teams checked buildings and nearby properties but repeatedly came up empty.

Eventually, a police drone spotted a suspect running into a wooded area.

Officers responded by approaching from multiple directions, attempting to prevent him from escaping.

One group made noise from one side while another moved in from behind.

The strategy worked.

Officers captured one suspect without a major confrontation.

But the operation was far from over.

Police were still trying to determine exactly who had been captured, where the remaining suspects had gone and which one might be carrying the gun.

At another location, officers stopped a second man dressed similarly to one of the wanted suspects.

He immediately told them he was on his way to work.

After checking his identity and circumstances, police again realized they had the wrong person.

An officer apologized and described the situation as a case of being in the “wrong place, wrong time.”

Two Suspects Are Eventually Taken Into Custody

Police continued using K9 teams to track scents from the stolen vehicle.

Several leads went nowhere.

A reported sighting near a garage produced no suspect.

Then officers positioned near another wooded area spotted a man dressed in black.

Teams again moved in from opposite sides.

The suspect was forced toward an area where other officers were waiting and was taken into custody.

With two of the original three men now detained, investigators believed they were finally gaining control of the situation.

But one suspect remained at large.

And police still had not recovered the missing firearm.

Homeowner Reports Someone Running Through a Yard

The final break came when a homeowner called 911 to report someone running through a backyard.

Officers were already nearby and immediately moved toward the location.

By the time they checked the yard, the person was gone.

But investigators followed the path into a wooded area instead of abandoning the lead.

Within moments, officers spotted someone.

Then the encounter changed instantly.

“He’s got a gun,” an officer shouted.

“On your right. He’s got a gun.”

Police repeatedly ordered the suspect to show his hands and stop moving.

According to the police account summarized in the footage, officers saw the suspect holding a firearm and pointing it toward them.

Believing they were in immediate danger, officers opened fire.

Five shots were fired.

Ryan Hinton Is Fatally Shot

Officers immediately requested an ambulance and attempted to get medical help to the wounded suspect.

He was later pronounced dead.

Police identified him as 18-year-old Ryan Hinton.

The medical examiner later determined that Hinton had been struck by three rounds.

According to the transcript, one entered beneath his left arm, traveled through his chest and severely damaged his heart before exiting near the center of his chest.

The other two caused injuries to his left forearm and upper back or shoulder area.

Investigators concluded that the chest wound was fatal.

The shooting quickly became controversial, with Hinton’s family demanding answers and calling for a full investigation into the officers’ use of deadly force.

Police Say Hinton Was the Only One Armed

Back at the station, investigators identified the two surviving suspects as 19-year-old De’Anthony Bullock and 18-year-old Jerrell Austin.

Both reportedly admitted they had been inside the stolen car with Hinton and had fled when police approached.

However, both denied involvement in the earlier shooting investigation.

According to the case summary, investigators later determined that neither Bullock nor Austin had fired a weapon during the incident.

Police said Hinton was the only one of the three who was armed when officers encountered him in the woods and that he pointed the gun toward them before they fired.

Bullock and Austin were later charged in connection with the incident and ultimately pleaded guilty to obstructing official business.

Tragedy Deepens Days Later

The fallout from Hinton’s death did not end with the police investigation.

According to the transcript, just days later, his father, Rodney Hinton Jr., was charged with aggravated murder after an incident involving a vehicle and a Hamilton County sheriff’s deputy.

That development added another devastating chapter to a case that had already moved rapidly from stolen vehicle to manhunt to fatal police shooting.

For Cincinnati officers, the May 1 operation had begun with three people running from a stolen car.

By the end of the day, two were in custody and one was dead.

The case also left behind difficult questions — about the danger officers believed they faced in the woods, the decisions made during the search and the chain of events that followed after Hinton’s family learned he had been killed.

What began as a stolen-car recovery became something far larger: a citywide search, an officer-involved shooting and a tragedy that continued long after the final suspect was found.