Saturday 4 March 2017

Kentucky cop shoots unarmed suspect a second after saying 'show me your hands' [Video]



Body cam footage reveals the moment Officer Sarah Stumler found the suspect and immediately shot him, seriously injuring the man.


A police body cam video released by the Louisville Police Metro Department (LMPD), Stumler can be seen entering an empty, abandoned house in the town. Immediately on discovering Bruce Warrick, 39, she demands that he show her his hands, then promptly shoots the man. She can clearly be heard saying “sh*t” immediately after the shot is fired, asking Warrick where he had been shot. The incident happened on Wednesday this week.

Officer Stumler was one of three LMPD officers searching the house after they received reports of someone using drugs inside the building. On searching the house, they found Stumler hiding behind a mattress in one of the rooms. It is clear that Stumler shot the man immediately after asking him to show his hands, later saying telling Warrick that he was okay and that he must hold on as they called an ambulance to the scene.

Friends and family of the suspect say Warrick was posing no threat to the police and according to Police Chief Steve Conrad, no weapon was found on his person or inside the house. Conrad said on Thursday that he wishes to refrain from passing judgment until investigations are complete.

Warrick was taken to the University of Louisville Hospital, where he remains in a critical condition. Reportedly doctors had to remove portions of his intestines and pancreas during surgery on Thursday. As stated by Christopher 2X, a spokesman for Warrick’s family, he and a cousin of Warrick viewed the video footage on Thursday and said he was is in a critically serious condition. He added that according to the family, Warrick was in no way a threat to the police officers.

A probe has been launched by investigators from the Internal Professional Standards unit to determine whether Stumler had violated the department’s policies. Reportedly, LMPD officers can use deadly force when in defense of a person threatened with serious injury or death, or in self-defense.  

Stumler, who has been with the department since 2009, is now on administrative leave and is suspended, pending the results of the investigation. On entering the building, she was reportedly accompanied by Officers Aaron Seneker and Braden Lammers, neither of which discharged their firearms. The Courier-Journal quotes Conrad as saying the investigation will establish whether use of a firearm was justified in the incident. Warrick himself has been charged with no crime relating to the incident.

According to 2X, Warrick has a history of drug use and depression, which tends to lead him to find refuge in abandoned homes. According to court records, he also has previous convictions related to drugs in Jefferson County, Kentucky. Back in June 2015, Warrick graduated from the Jefferson County Drug Court and according to Judge Stephanie Pearce Burke, who heads the program, he was a positive and generous influence on others in the program while he worked on his own recovery.


As reported by RT News, Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer asked Stumler, Warrick and their families to be patient and to pray for Warrick as the investigation continues. Fischer said he and Conrad are committed to thorough investigating the incident with full transparency, hence the LMPD released the  video footage shortly after the incident occurred.

Sources RT / Courier-Journal