CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, Ohio — The city will proceed with its internal investigation of last year’s fatal shooting by police of Christian Thomas, 18, after a special grand jury decided not to indict the three officers involved.

At a press conference Monday, Mayor Kahlil Seren announced that several initiatives have been launched “in hopes of preventing tragedies like this in the future.”

These include:

— Introducing legislation to establish a police review commission, with residents appointed to it

— Expanding the hours of the regional First CALL response program that deploys social workers and mental health professionals to potential crisis situations

— A new approach to gun safety targeted to the city’s youth in respect to the inherent dangers posed by a society that “cares more about manufacturers’ profits than our kids’ lives,” Seren said.

Police responded to a family dispute at a Yellowstone Road home on the night of Aug. 29 that turned into a stand-off situation.

Other family members were out of the house, with Thomas still inside — possibly under the influence of drugs and wielding a handgun — with reports of at least one shot being fired inside.

When he emerged from the house and attempted to run off, police shot him multiple times in the yard.

The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) immediately stepped in to review the case, presenting its findings last week to a specially convened Cuyahoga County grand jury.

“A grand jury of residents found that our officers did not engage in criminal intent that night,” Seren said at the outset of Monday’s press conference.

Seren added that he did not believe any officers arrived on the scene with the intention of causing harm to anyone.

“But it ended with irreparable loss — to family, friends, the entire community,” an emotional Seren said. “We lost an 18-year-old Cleveland Heights kid.”

Officials expect that BCI will soon post on a state website further details, findings and evidence that their investigators presented to the grand jury last week.

On the grand jury’s ruling, Cleveland Heights Police Chief Chris Britton said, “There is no relief or lessening of the tragedy here, in terms of getting to the truth.”

The next part of the process will be the internal investigation through the department’s Professional Standards Bureau, which Seren created in 2023.

Britton noted that police officers are “forced to make split-second decisions with the information that they have at the moment.”

Speaking to members of the Thomas family in attendance, Britton said at the outset, “I truly recognize your loss here, and our sympathies go out to you and the community as a whole.”

Sara Thomas-Peterson, a therapist and Christian Thomas’ aunt, welcomed the idea of a “community-based police review board,” saying she hoped to be a part of it.

In terms of drawing up policies, Thomas-Peterson mentioned “better-regulated use of AR-15” assault weapons issued to police.

An unidentified audience member questioned the number of shots fired.

As for whether a handgun was recovered on or near Christian Thomas, Seren said a gun was “found at the scene,” although he did not specify how far away or whether it was still in the house.

Questions along those lines should be answered further in the BCI documentation to be released, Seren and Britton noted.

As for the family, “we’re broken — you all broke us,” Thomas-Peterson told city officials.

“If it can happen here in the most progressive city in Ohio, it can happen anywhere.”

“There is nothing this decision can do to ease the pain of that loss,” Seren said. “We have to recognize this pain as a sign that something needs to be done.”

Seren said he plans to seek additional funding — either locally, regionally or both — so that social workers assigned to First CALL can work later into the night.

Britton said the three officers had since returned to duty on “lightly modified assignment after extended leaves.”

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