COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
No charges will be filed against the four Columbia police officers involved in a fatal shooting of a man who was accused of murder.
Four Columbia police officers — Zachary Beringer, Ryan Brunstrom, Dylan Caldieraro and Malique Dameron — fired their weapons at Timothy Turner, 37, of Columbia, on Feb. 1, according to a letter to the Missouri State Highway Patrol from Callaway County Prosecuting Attorney Sandra Colhour. The memo was dated Tuesday. Colhour was named the special prosecutor in the case.
Turner was a suspect in a homicide that occurred earlier in the day. Charges eventually appeared on Casenet days later for Turner, which included first-degree murder and armed criminal action in Randolph County.
The Columbia Police Department was asked by Moberly police to help in the investigation and a vehicle driven by Turner was found in the 1500 block of Raleigh Drive in Columbia. A SWAT team was activated. A crisis negotiator told Turner to come out, but nothing occurred, the document says.
Law enforcement learned from multiple sources that Turner was holding multiple children and a woman against their will, according to the memo from Colhour. A standoff ensued.
After about an hour, Turner allegedly walked out to the patio of the home while naked and holding something behind his back, the document says. Turner was allegedly holding a knife and refused to drop it when officers gave commands, the document says.
Minutes later, “six 4557 40 mm less than lethal foam baton rounds were deployed, at least one of which struck Turner. The less than lethal rounds were not effective,” documents say.
Turner then allegedly started swinging a knife and police sent a K-9, the document says. Turner allegedly held the knife above his head and the four officers shot him. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Colhour wrote that the use of force was “reasonable.”
“In this case, the deadly force used by the officers was objectively reasonable in light of credible information that Turner had committed the felony of murder; Turner’s ongoing refusal to respond to verbal commands; Turner’s failure to respond to non-deadly physical force; Turner’s wielding of the knife, a deadly weapon, in close proximity to officers; officers’ reasonable belief that the lives or safety of the home’s occupants would be in danger if Turner reentered the unit; and the reasonable belief that when Turner lunged toward officers with the knife raised, he posed an immediate risk to the officers’ lives or physical safety,” the memo says
Colhour wrote that “the use of deadly force to effect an arrest, law enforcement officers are justified in using deadly force in self-defense or defense of others to the extent the use of such force would be justified by any other citizen.”
