BY TOM O'NEILL
The Cincinnati Enquirer

The Hamilton County prosecutor's office on Monday received the police investigation report on the death ofLorenzo Collins, who was shot by police officers two months ago.

Prosecutor Joe Deters said he hadn't reviewed the two-binder report, which was hand-delivered Monday by Cincinnati homicide Lt. Clarence Mullis.

Mr. Deters explained he would consider the recommendation of his office's criminal division in deciding whether to send the case to a grand jury for possible indictment of the two officers involved. His review could take several weeks, he said.

Mr. Collins, 25, of Avondale, was shot Feb. 23 after he fled a police hold at University Hospital. He was being kept for a preliminary evaluation after he behaved erratically during questioning by Springdale police about a shoplifting incident, police said.

He led police on a foot chase that ended several blocks away in a yard at 237 E. Rochelle St. in Corryville, where police were unsuccessful in subduing him by chemical irritant spray.

According to police, witnesses and recordings of radio transmissions, Mr. Collins was 6 to 8 feet from Cincinnati Police Officer Douglas Depodesta and University of Cincinnati Officer John E. Engel, waving a brick, when he was shot. Four shots were fired, three striking Mr. Collins. He died five days later.

The shooting prompted numerous protests claiming racism and police brutality. Mr. Collins was African-American. Both officers are white.

Police defended the officers, saying a brick is a deadly weapon and Mr. Collins was holding it in a threatening manner. Critics of the shooting say it was unnecessary and have called for a Justice Department investigation, more city council response, and the dismissal and prosecution of the two officers involved.

''We look at it as guarded optimism,'' the Rev. Damon Lynch III, a protest organizer, said after a Monday press conference at Tryed Stone Baptist Church in Bond Hill.

''But we anticipate what the verdict will be; we don't see anything different from the way it's always been,'' he said. ''It's business as usual.''

Meanwhile, Mr. Collins' relatives have filed a federal lawsuit against Cincinnati police and University Hospital over the shooting.