WEST END, Ohio (WKRC) - A Cincinnati Police Sergeant fired a lethal shotgun rounds at a suspect when he meant to fire a beanbag.

Cincinnati Police had a West End street blocked off Saturday evening as they tried to get a man with a knife into custody. SWAT officers were called in to help.

Police responded to Freeman Avenue and Bank Street shortly before 5 p.m. after 24-year-old Kaleb Moore's mother called and said her son was suicidal and suffers from schizophrenia and mental illness.

Police said they spent 12 minutes when they first arrived, talking to the man and his brother. A crisis team was also there.

Chief Eliot Isaac said officers tried to approach the man but he pushed away from them.

“As the officers began to approach Mr. Moore, he told the officers not to touch him and to get away from him,” said Isaac. “Mr. Moore then pushes away from the officers, removes his sweatshirt and then pulls a steak knife from his waistband.”

Officers immediately began shooting beanbag rounds and deploying tasers. Neither affected Moore.

After more rounds and chemical irritants were shot at Moore, Sergeant Daniel Carter went to a cruiser for more beanbag rounds.

According to Chief Isaac, the sergeant then "inadvertently grabbed a box of 12 gauge shotgun slugs."

Sergeant Carter fired once at Moore but missed, and hit a nearby garbage can. It was then he realized that he had mistakenly fired a "lethal round" at the man.

“Sgt. Carter immediately realizes due to the sound and the recoil of the shotgun that he had inadvertently fired a lethal round at Mr. Moore,” said Isaac. “Carter immediately disengages, then unloads the shotgun, places it on the floorboard of the vehicle and he then informs a command officer what occurred and our criminal investigation is called to the scene.”

At about 9:30 p.m. police were able to get Moore into custody.

“SWAT officers deployed a 40 mm sponge round and additional tasers at Mr. Moore. Mr. Moore is incapacitated long enough for SWAT officers to disarm him and take him into custody,” said Isaac.

He was taken to UC Medical Center with minor injuries from being struck by beanbag rounds, pepper ball rounds and a Taser. Police say that the suspect is being held under a "72-hour psych hold” and has been charged with inducing panic and resisting arrest.

Chief Isaac made it clear a mistake was made and that the department wants to be fully transparent about the incident. Isaac says that the beanbag rounds and the shotgun rounds look and feel different.

“Our beanbag slugs are translucent, you can almost see through them. It's very evident. The other shotgun rounds are either red or gray in color,” said Isaac.

Isaac went on to add,

“We will always look at every incident to learn from and do things better. In the interest of transparency, there clearly was a mistake made here. That's why I called this press conference. I wanted to make sure we were bringing this out to make sure everyone is aware of what occurred here so we can make certain that things are done better in the future.”

The Hamilton County Prosecutors Office and the Cincinnati Police Internal Investigations Section will be reviewing the incident.

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