Officer who shot suspect in rural Kansas triple homicide won't face charges

A Newton police officer will not face charges in the fatal shooting of a shotgun-swinging man after a triple homicide at a rural Kansas home, the county attorney said. The man yelled and pointed a hand at an officer before another officer shot him.

"The fatal shooting of David Montano by Cpl. Levi Minkevitch was entirely warranted and justified under the circumstances in which he was presented," Harvey County Attorney David Yoder wrote in a report.

A woman who called 911 at 12:32 a.m. on Feb. 23, 2017, told dispatch operators that people had been shot, the report said. The dispatcher then heard the woman moaning or crying before a man said, "Sorry, I didn't mean to call you."

Newton, North Newton, Hesston and Harvey County officers and deputies were called to the house at 2111 N. Spencer Road in rural Newton, near U.S. 50 and I-135.

From previous police contact, officers recognized a pickup parked nearby as Montano's, the report said. Montano was involved in drug distribution, had guns and had been violent toward officers before, the report said.

Witnesses told police that Montano had fled the house and had a double-barrel shotgun and a handgun and may also have night vision goggles, the report said.

At least one person had been found dead inside before Minkevitch and Cpl. Tony Hawpe heard footsteps outside the house. Hawpe's rifle-mounted flashlight showed a shirtless man wearing black pants and a white bandana running away, the report said.

The officers recognized him as Montano and chased him, the report said. When the man stopped, the officers shouted multiple commands to him, including, "Show us your hands."

The man raised his left hand, but was swinging a shotgun in his right hand, the report said. After telling him by name to drop the gun, he yelled something unintelligible at officers, pointed his left hand at Hawpe and continued swinging the gun.

Minkevitch then fired multiple shots, the report said.

Underneath Montano's body, officers found a black pump-style shotgun with a sawed-off barrel and pistol grip, the report said. A large fixed-blade knife was at his hip.

Montano, who had gunshot wounds to his chest and abdomen, was taken by ambulance to Newton Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, the report said.

"Cpl. Minkevitch had to make a split-second decision, and was justified in the use of lethal force in order to remove an immediate and imminent threat to Cpl. Hawpe, to himself, to the safety of other law enforcement officers at the scene, and to known citizen survivors at the scene," Yoder wrote.

"His actions in shooting Montano likely saved more innocent lives," the report said.

Yoder said Montano shot and killed Michael John Lemmons, Nelton Dean Lemons and Jason Stubby inside the house. Each died of a single gunshot wound.

Witnesses said Montano went there "with the specific intent of murdering those individuals," the report said.

One witness, who was forced to go to the house with Montano, told investigators that Montano said, "Mother Earth is thirsty, she needs blood."

A day after the homicides and the shooting of Montano, Yoder said it may have been a "domestic-type situation."

“At this point in time, the primary driving factor doesn’t appear to be specifically drug-related but more on the lines of a domestic-type situation,” he said.

Federal prosecutors had previously charged Montano, 33, with conspiring to distribute Oxycodone and other drugs.

The Kansas Bureau of Investigation helped investigate the triple homicide and Montano's shooting.

It was the third triple homicide in a year in Harvey County. The other two are the Feb. 25, 2016, shooting at Excel Industries in Hesston and the Oct. 30, 2016, slayings of a couple and one of their friends at a farmhouse near Moundridge.

The shooter in the Excel killings was fatally shot by Hesston’s police chief during his rampage. Chief Doug Schroeder was awarded the Medal of Valor by President Donald Trump in February.

This story was originally published April 2, 2018 at 6:09 PM with the headline "Officer who shot suspect in rural Kansas triple homicide won't face charges."