Sedgwick County sheriff: Man shot by deputy was pointing gun, refused commands (+video)

A 32-year-old man remained in critical condition Wednesday after a Sedgwick County sheriff’s deputy fired on him after the man refused repeated commands to put his gun down and to stop advancing, Sheriff Jeff Easter said.

Easter said the shooting Tuesday afternoon appears to be justified, that the man had been told at least 11 times by the deputy to put his gun down and at least five times to stop advancing on the deputy.

“This case speaks for itself,” Easter said. “I am saying this deputy had every right to defend himself against this person pointing a rifle.”

The gun that the deputy thought was a rifle turned out to be a high-powered, .177-caliber pellet gun, Easter said. The gun had a scope and modified barrel. “So this is not just a pellet gun,” Easter said. “He had the capability of delivering lethal force to our deputy. We have the right to go home as well.”

The 47-year-old deputy, an 11-year veteran, fired his rifle five times, hitting the man in the lower torso and abdomen, Easter said. The man was about 80 feet from the deputy when the deputy fired.

At a Wednesday briefing for media at the Sheriff’s Office, Easter gave this account from a prepared statement and then answered some questions: At 3:50 p.m. Tuesday, deputies were sent to an overdose call near Pony Meadows Place and 31st Street South, where deputies and paramedics found a 26-year-old woman in serious condition from what was reported to be an overdose. A relative of the overdose victim told deputies that a 32-year-old man might know what drug caused the overdose. Deputies were told that the man left the residence on foot “and that he was acting strange,” Easter said.

At 4:18 p.m., a deputy told a dispatcher that he was responding to a man with a rifle walking in a ditch near the residence, in the 14600 block of East 31st Street South, Easter continued. Around the same time, a motorist drove by “and reportedly felt threatened by the man’s action,” Easter said. The deputy told dispatchers that the man was not responding to commands and that he might be connected to the overdose call.

In the next two minutes, the deputy ordered the man to put the gun down at least 11 times and told him to stop advancing at least five times, according to the deputy’s in-car camera system.

But the man kept moving toward the deputy and pointed the rifle at the deputy and began to crouch, Easter said. The deputy fired five shots “in self-defense,” Easter said. The deputy then immediately called for EMS and tried to help the suspect.

The Kansas Bureau of Investigation is assisting with the sheriff’s investigation, Easter said, and the case will be presented to prosecutors, who would determine if charges are warranted.

Easter wouldn’t divulge the man’s name, saying he has not been booked into jail or charged but that he is wanted on city warrants for misdemeanor crimes.

The man remains in critical condition, under guard, at a hospital.

The man, who has ties to Wichita, could face charges of aggravated assault on the officer and aggravated assault on the passing motorist, Easter said.

According to the family of the 26-year-old woman who reportedly suffered an overdose, the man is a boyfriend of the woman, Easter said. The woman remained in serious condition. At the scene, methamphetamine was mentioned as a possible cause of her overdose, he said.

Asked if the man might have been under the influence when he was shot, Easter said the man’s actions seemed strange to witnesses and the deputy.

This story was originally published September 16, 2015 at 10:23 AM with the headline "Sedgwick County sheriff: Man shot by deputy was pointing gun, refused commands (+video)."