No charges in officer killing of mentally ill man on meth who shot at SWAT team
The county’s lead prosecutor said Monday that he would not file criminal charges against Wichita officers who killed a 56-year-old mentally ill man who fired a gun dozens of times inside of his apartment complex while high on meth.
Authorities found at least 83 spent shell casings in Fred Burton’s apartment and at least 33 bullet holes in his interior walls after police killed him during a May 23, 2019, standoff that drew a Special Weapons and Tactical team, or SWAT, response.
Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett said during a virtual news conference Monday afternoon that, given the totality of the circumstances, the officers who fired at and ultimately killed Burton were immune from prosecution under Kansas law.
“This is another in a long line of situations where people with mental illness and methamphetamine on board, engage in behavior, engage with the police and it’s turns out very unfortunate,” he told reporters on the Zoom meeting call where he announced his findings.
“... But the bottom line is under the laws of the state of Kansas, for me to charge these officers I have to be able to establish beyond a reasonable doubt that what they did was not in self defense of themselves or others.”
He could not in this case, he said.
Two Wichita police officers who were the subject of the shooting inquiry — a sergeant who was a 15-year veteran of department at the time of Burton’s death and a detective who was a 13-year veteran — will not be charged with any crimes for using deadly force. The DA has no authority to make findings in the Wichita Police Department’s administrative investigations or any civil actions that might result from police killings.
A 28-page report Bennett released following Monday’s news conference gives this account of the shooting:
Around 1:55 a.m. on May 23, 2019, Burton’s apartment neighbors at 727 W. MacArthur starting calling 911 to report what sounded like explosions. The first officer on scene talked to the neighbors and noticed bullet holes in their interior walls that adjoined Burton’s apartment. Police evacuated residents from nearby apartments as gunfire inside Burton’s apartment continued and they called for the SWAT team to respond.
A police negotiator tried to contact Burton, without success. Instead of answering his phone, Burton went to his sliding glass door, “extended his middle finger and exposed himself to officers.”
Using a phone number the apartment manager provided, law enforcement tried to text message and call Burton and eventually deployed smoke rounds into his apartment to try to force him out.
Burton was killed after officers reportedly saw him with a rifle, shooting at SWAT team members, who returned fire.
When the SWAT team went into the apartment, Burton was dead. The floor was littered with .22-caliber cartridges and the walls marred with bullet holes, Bennett said. Authorities also found a Remington “Speedmaster” .22-caliber rifle on site and shell casings from the officers’ firearms, according to Bennett’s report, which included summaries of statements from four eyewitnesses and interviews with law enforcement officers at the scene that morning.
Police have previously said Burton was experiencing a mental health crisis when he was shot. His standoff with police lasted for about four hours.
Burton’s family knew of his mental health struggles and thought they had cleared his apartment of weapons leading up to his shooting death, Bennett said, noting that he had spoken with them prior to Monday’s announcement.
The manager of the apartment where Burton lived also had been aware of his mental health issues and had worked with him prior to the shooting to diffuse problems during his “mental breaks,” including using a “safe word” when they spoke so he knew he was not hallucinating, Bennett said.
The night Burton was killed, the manager provided that safe word to the police to try to calm him. But it didn’t work.
“It’s safe to say he did not respond in a way that would resolve this case,” Bennett said. Burton was shot 10 times, the report says.
Bennett also noted that an autopsy revealed Burton had .15 milligrams per liter of methamphetamine in his body, which he said came as a surprise to family members who were unaware Burton had been using the drug to self-medicate his mental illness. His body also tested positive for amphetamine, Bennett’s report says.
“They were very much a part of his life, trying to ... help him out,” Bennett said of Burton’s family.
This story was originally published October 5, 2020 at 4:09 PM.
