Vincent Belmonte

Vincent Belmonte, 19, was shot three or four times, including in the back of the head and back, and killed by East Cleveland, Ohio Police Sergeant Larry McDonald on January 8, 2021, after a traffic stop over a loud muffler turned into a foot chase. Belmonte, who was driving a stolen car with two passengers, crashed and fled on foot through neighborhood yards; McDonald said he saw Belmonte reaching for a gun as he ran and fired, striking him mostly from behind. McDonald told investigators his body camera had turned off “inadvertently” during the chase, leaving no video of the shooting itself. A gun was recovered in Belmonte's hoodie pocket. A Cuyahoga County grand jury declined to indict McDonald in October 2021, nearly ten months after the shooting. No one has ever been charged in Belmonte's death.

Cleveland, OH · Cuyahoga County

• 2021: Case opens — victim reported missing or found.
• Documented milestones (renewed investigation, media coverage, family advocacy) to be added as sourced.
• Present: case remains unresolved. No named suspect has been convicted.

• The traffic stop, the chase, and the shooting, per Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost's public announcement of the grand jury's findings and the Bureau of Criminal Investigation's underlying review.
• Sergeant Larry McDonald, training another officer at the time, attempted to stop Belmonte's car, later determined to be stolen, over a loud muffler; Belmonte and two passengers fled in a brief vehicle pursuit before crashing due to damaged tires.
• All three occupants ran on foot; McDonald chased Belmonte through neighborhood yards and over a fence he was unable to climb, and said Belmonte reached for a gun during the pursuit before he fired, striking him three or four times, including in the back of the head, back, forearm, and chest.
• McDonald told investigators his body-worn camera had turned off “inadvertently” as he chased Belmonte, meaning no video exists of the shooting itself; Attorney General Yost said the exact details of the encounter accordingly “remain unclear.”
• A firearm with an extended magazine was recovered from Belmonte's hoodie pocket at the scene.
• A Cuyahoga County grand jury reviewed the Bureau of Criminal Investigation's findings and declined to indict McDonald in October 2021, roughly ten months after the shooting; Yost said the jury found McDonald “acted within the bounds of the law.”
• Belmonte's mother, SheaRon Daniels, and the family's attorney, Tiana Bohanon, publicly disputed the outcome, with Bohanon stating that accountability is generally lacking when Black men are killed by police.
• McDonald remained with the East Cleveland Police Department after the shooting and resigned in 2023 for reasons unrelated to public statements about the Belmonte case.

• Whether Belmonte in fact reached for the gun found in his hoodie pocket while running away, as McDonald stated, or whether the shots that struck him mostly from behind reflected a different sequence of events, was never independently resolved by video evidence, since the only body camera that could have captured the shooting was off; the question was never tested at any criminal trial, since the grand jury declined to indict.
• Why McDonald's body camera turned off during the chase, and whether that was accidental as he stated, has never been independently verified beyond his own account.
• The full content of the Bureau of Criminal Investigation's underlying case file, beyond Attorney General Yost's public summary of the grand jury's findings, has not been made comprehensively public.

• Ideastream Public Media — “Grand jury declines to indict E. Cleveland cop who killed Vincent Belmonte”
• WOIO (Cleveland 19 News) — “Grand jury declines to indict East Cleveland police officer who fatally shot Vincent Belmonte”
• The Marshall Project — “After Police Killed an Ohio Man, His Family Navigates Grief and Healing: Photos”
• Project Cold Case
• Murder Accountability Project
• NamUs