Police, prosecutors disagree on charges for Renton, WA transit shooting suspects
No charges for suspects in Renton transit center shooting
After prosecutors decided to not pursue charges for suspects in a Renton shooting, police say they're frustrated with the decision.
RENTON, Wash. - A man was shot five times at Renton's transit center last week. Days later, prosecutors say they don't plan to file any charges.
Now, Renton's police chief is speaking out, saying he's frustrated with the decision.
What they're saying:
Prosecutors say they can't prove that the men didn't act in self-defense. But, the police chief says he believes it was excessive force.
Video shows the moments leading up to the shooting at the Renton transit center.
In it, you can see a 52-year-old man approaching a woman, her boyfriend and brother with a PVC pipe in his hand. Then, he takes a swing at the woman, hitting her in the leg. Her boyfriend pulls a gun and at some point, the man drops the pipe and goes after him. The two begin tussling, falling to the ground and moving to the street between two buses. That's when the woman's brother pulls out a gun and ultimately shoots him in the chest, both thighs and knee.
"There were 10 different senior deputy prosecutors who looked at this, all the videos, frame by frame, and came to the same conclusion," said Casey McNerthney with the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.
Their conclusion is that self-defense can't be disproven. The King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office released a memo explaining why they are not charging the men with assault, including that the man who was shot advanced first.
The memo states, "Without apparent provocation, (he) can be seen approaching the group who were standing near the buses and looking at their phones.
"(He) suddenly puts some of his bags down and, without warning, swings the pipe at (her)....striking (her) in the leg."
Her resulting injury is pictured below.
"The first aggressor part, is a big part of that analysis," said McNerthney.
The memo also states when the woman's boyfriend pulls out a handgun, "audio confirms that no shot was fired."
However, it states the man, "with the pipe still in his hand, continues his attack". The memo highlights that moment below.
According to the memo, the fighting is only stopped after the woman's brother first tries to hit the man with a gun in his possession, then when that doesn't work, opens fire.
"When the gun was drawn, it looks like the person who was shot didn’t stop and still went hands on," said McNerthney.
However, the Renton Police Chief says the video tells a different story.
"In no way, looking at the video, do we feel that it was reasonable or justified that the subjects used lethal force in that encounter," said Jon Schuldt, Renton Police Chief. "I think we are very disappointed in the King County Prosector’s Office decision not to file assault charges on the suspects in the case that happened at our transit center last Friday where a couple of the individuals shot rounds at one of our community members."
About the initial swing at the woman, the chief says it was a "tap".
"I wouldn’t call it a hit, it was more of a tap to the female in the group and that started the physical altercation between the subjects," said Schuldt.
Despite the man being the initial aggressor, at some point he dropped the pipe and put up his hands.
"It appeared at some points he was defenseless, and they continued to assault him," said Schuldt. "People should be able to defend themselves, but defend themselves with a certain amount of reasonableness."
The 52-year-old who was shot was still hospitalized but stable as of Wednesday afternoon, according to police.
The Source: Information in this story came from The King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office, the Renton Police Department and FOX 13 Seattle reporting.
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