KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A federal judge approved a confidential settlement Wednesday in a wrongful death suit filed by the mother of a man shot and killed by an Olathe police officer in December 2022.
Maria Varnas, the mother of Brandon Lynch, filed the lawsuit in federal court in Kansas after the death of her son, 27-year-old Brandon Lynch.
The settlement is confidential.
The defendants in the case “have denied liability and continue to deny liability.”
KSHB 41 reporter Abby Dodge reached out to the City of Olathe for comment on the settlement, who said they are “not able to provide any additional information at this time.”
The shooting happened about 11:20 p.m. in a residence in the 900 block of East Oakview Street.
Police were sent to the house on a reported physical disturbance.
Lynch’s sister called police from her bedroom and told officers her brother had punched her in the face.
She said she was bleeding and her brother was making threats about killing everyone in the house.
Lynch was in his downstairs room when police arrived and asked him to come out of his room.
An Olathe police officer told Lynch to drop a stun gun he was holding and said Lynch was under arrest. Lynch also had a knife and ignored an officer’s command to drop the knife.
A taser was deployed twice as officers yelled for Lynch to drop the knife.
An officer told Lynch twice that if Lynch came toward him, he would shoot Lynch.
Lynch was told he was being arrested, walked toward the officers, and was shot.
Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe ruled in 2023 that the officer who fatally shot Lynch would not be charged with a crime.
The family released a statement after the ruling, saying they were “immensely disappointed with the Johnson County District Attorney’s decision not to charge the officer who shot and killed Brandon.”
Howe explained his decision not to charge the officer in a news conference.
“The test is, did the steps he took on that day, was it reasonable based on all the facts?” Howe said. “ … Lynch took the actions that caused his death, the officers reacted to the aggressiveness of Lynch throughout that episode.”
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