Wichita police officers cleared in Nov. shooting of gunman

Four Wichita police officers who shot to death a rifle-toting gunman at Wilson Estates in east Wichita in November had no choice but to fire, the Sedgwick County District Attorney said Friday.

Robert Scharoun, 41, had already fired his high-powered rifle at a newspaper carrier, narrowly missing her head, and had fired several more shots into a nearby house, District Attorney Nola Foulston said Friday, in a seven-page news release.

Foulston decided no charges would be filed against the officers after reviewing evidence collected by the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, the Wichita Police Department and her own investigators.

When Scharoun raised the .243 Winchester at approaching officers, they fired 21 bullets from their handguns, and another four shots from a 12-gauge shotgun, hitting Scharoun in the legs and head, Foulston wrote.

"It is reasonable, under these circumstances, for the officers to respond to Scharoun's unlawful use of deadly force by firing at him in order to protect their own lives or the lives of others," Foulston wrote.

Foulston's statement on Friday, and Police Chief Norman Williams' description of the shooting given soon after it happened, outlined the following:

Officers answered a 911 call at 2:20 a.m. on Nov. 12 about what they were first told was a suspicious character in front of a home in the 8900 block of Churchill. The caller said the man was wearing a white bathrobe, was holding a rifle, had possibly already fired one shot, and had apparently rammed his car into the garage door of the house.

Another person, calling from a nearby house, told police the sound of breaking glass could be heard.

As police arrived, the first caller stayed on the line and told them the man had fired his rifle at a newspaper carrier. Police officers on the scene were already close enough to see Scharoun fire the shot, at a Ford F-150 driven by Wichita Eagle carrier Charlene Barnum.

That bullet punched holes in the windshield and rear-view mirror before lodging in the driver's-side headrest — about an inch from Barnum's head.

The caller also told police the man was yelling "Hear me roar" and "I will kill you."

Officers moved closer, and the man moved away from where he'd fired the shot.

After firing at Barnum, Williams said, Scharoun went into the garage, which was accessible because he had rammed the sedan through the garage doors and then backed out.

He then saw or heard officers closing in on the vacant house, so he ran into the backyard through an open gate.

Officers lost sight of him, but heard him fire more shots — this time at the house north of the vacant home, which investigators later determined was his former residence.

That house was struck at least three times, according to police — once through a basement window and twice upstairs.

Scharoun then climbed over the 8-foot privacy fence, with the help of a utility box, and began to break into the house, which was in the 2000 block of Keeneland.

A woman who lived at the house called 911 at 2:39 a.m. to report that someone was breaking in, then fled across the street to seek shelter.

As officers worked their way east, attempting to seal off the area, Scharoun came around the corner of the white wooden privacy fence and raised his rifle.

The officers fired.

Scharoun fell, then got up, and raised the rifle at officers again. The officers fired several more shots, all from a distance of 21 to 33 yards. One bullet hit Scharoun in the top of his head.

Investigators later found 21 spent .40 caliber handgun cartridges and four spent shotgun shells in the area where the officers had fired.

Investigators later determined that Scharoun was not living at the residence where he rammed the car into the garage; but he had rented the home and lived there in 2009. The home was owned by a local resident, vacant but fully furnished.

Evidence at the scene showed that Scharoun had driven his car into the closed garage door, then walked to the back and broke into the house by throwing a chunk of firewood through a glass door.

Evidence in the home showed that Scharoun then took a shower, leaving his clothes on the floor. He put on the bathrobe and a pair of black tennis shoes he found in the home.

He took several bottles of liquor and put them in his car, and gathered several plastic tubs full of his personal property still in the home. The tubs were found in the driveway after his death.

Williams, right after the shooting, had said that the officers had repeatedly warned Scharoun to drop the rifle before they fired.

Investigators found a round in the chamber of the rifle, five rounds remaining in the magazine clip and still more ammunition in Scharoun's car, Williams said.

Investigators found nothing at Scharoun's most recent residence in the 13400 block of East Mainsgate that shed light on why he went back to his former house in Wilson Estates and then on the shooting rampage, Williams said at the time.

Court records showed Scharoun went through a divorce in 2007 and had a protection-from-abuse order filed against him by his ex-wife in 2008. He has no criminal history, Williams said.

He was the owner of a ValuePlace, a hybrid apartment/hotel operation, in Tulsa. He was also a franchisee of ValuePlace for the Tulsa area.

This story was originally published June 17, 2011 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Wichita police officers cleared in Nov. shooting of gunman."