Harry Mitts Jr.

Harry D. Mitts Jr. (June 18, 1952 – September 25, 2013) was an American convicted murderer who was executed in Ohio for the racially motivated murder of his neighbor's African-American boyfriend, John Bryant, in Garfield Heights, Ohio in August 1994. Shortly after the fatal shooting of Bryant, Mitts engaged in a gunfight with several police officers, which resulted in the death of Sergeant Dennis Glivar. Another two police officers were wounded in the shootout before Mitts was apprehended. In November 1994, Mitts was found guilty of the double murder and sentenced to death. 19 years after the murders, Mitts was put to death by lethal injection on September 25, 2013. As of 2026, Mitts remains the last white defendant to be executed for murdering an African-American victim in Ohio.

Harry D. Mitts Jr. was born on June 18, 1952, in Ohio. He had several brothers and sisters.

Mitts attended the Garfield Heights High School in 1970 and also studied photojournalism in college for 1+1⁄2 years. After reaching adulthood, Mitts was married with one daughter at one point in time before his marriage ended with a divorce, and his ex-wife remarried to a police officer and gained custody of Mitts's daughter.

On August 14, 1994, after an argument at home with his former wife, 42-year-old Harry Mitts Jr. went on a six-hour shooting spree in his neighborhood in Garfield Heights, Ohio, which resulted in the murders of two people: 28-year-old John Bryant, who was African-American, and 40-year-old Sergeant Dennis Glivar, who was a white police officer in the Garfield Heights Police Department.

According to media and court sources, on that day itself, Mitts had shouted some racist slurs towards Bryant, who was the African-American boyfriend of his white neighbor, and fired his gun at point blank range at Bryant while the couple were returning from a grocery shopping trip. According to Timothy "Tim" Roane, he was helping his brother-in-law move furniture into the apartment when the shooting happened and witnessed Bryant being shot. Although Mitts warned other neighbors to not help Bryant, Roane disregarded the warning and managed to bring the wounded Bryant back to the apartment with the help of his brother-in-law. However, Bryant died at the scene from a single gunshot wound to the chest.

Subsequently, after the fatal shooting of Bryant, the police responded to the scene and tried to arrest Mitts. At the time of the police's arrival, Mitts had barricaded himself inside the apartment building. Two police officers of the Garfield Heights Police Department – 38-year-old Lieutenant Thomas Kaiser and 40-year-old Sergeant Dennis Glivar – approached the building in order to negotiate for Mitts to surrender. However, when both Sergeant Glivar and Lieutenant Kaiser got closer, Mitts barged out of the door, and with a gun in each hand (one of them a .44 Magnum and another a 9mm pistol), he fired multiple shots at both Lieutenant Kaiser and Sergeant Glivar. While Lieutenant Kaiser was able to take cover despite being wounded in the chest, Sergeant Glivar died at the scene after sustaining seven gunshot wounds to his body, which went through his heart, lung, liver, kidney, and stomach.

After taking cover, Lieutenant Kaiser attempted to persuade Mitts to surrender, but Mitts refused to and reportedly stated that the only way to end this was that he be killed by the police. Subsequently, a third police officer, 38-year-old Officer John Mackey of the Maple Heights Police Department, arrived at the scene, and he assisted Lieutenant Kaiser in evacuating tenants upstairs by guiding them to a ladder at the back window. Subsequently, both Officer Mackey and Lieutenant Kaiser went to the building to corner Mitts, who engaged in another shootout with the two officers, and he also wounded Officer Mackey.

A few hours after the gunfight, police reinforcements arrived at the building, and Mitts, who was wounded during the shooting, surrendered after the police fired tear gas into the barricaded apartment building. Mitts was then arrested for the murders of Bryant and Sergeant Glivar and the attempted murders of Lieutenant Kaiser and Officer Mackey. Mitts was later hospitalized for his injuries at the MetroHealth Medical Center. Both Lieutenant Kaiser and Officer Mackey sought treatment and eventually recovered.