Father of veteran killed by police believed that the killing could have been avoided
Zachary Shogren, 34, runs with a knife against the orders of the police officers. (Duluth Police Department/Fox 21 Local News)
Police officers in Duluth, MN, approached Zachary Shogren, 34, to arrest him for allegedly making terroristic threats. However, when they came to detain him, he did not cooperate with their orders. Shogren had a knife in his hand, ignored commands to drop the knife, then ran in a way that made the police officers feel threatened.
From Fox 21 News:
DULUTH, Minn. — Body camera footage has been released involving a February officer-involved shooting that killed a Duluth veteran. Last week, that officer was cleared of any charges after an outside investigation. And now, the man’s father tells FOX 21 deadly force could have easily been avoided. for this encounter and it resulted in the death of our son,” Jim Shogren said.
We begin with the Feb. 24 encounter that lead up to the shooting.
Duluth police said they were trying to arrest Zachary Shogren, 34, on a warrant for alleged terroristic threats. Police said he would not surrender and that he pulled out a knife.
The video released Wednesday has been edited by authorities, as allowed by law, to protect identities and voices of undercover officers and leave out portions that are too sensitive. In the video, the first shots heard are from a police Taser gun and a sponge-round gun, followed by the final and fatal shots.
The Cook County Attorney’s Office reviewed the case and concluded no charges to be filed because sufficient evidence showed officers believed there was a threat of death or great bodily harm to another officer.
Duluth Police Chief Mike Ceynowa released a statement Wednesday with the release of the body camera footage.
Fox 21 News provides the balance of the story here, including the father’s statement as well as body camera video of the incident.
Category: Crime, Veterans in the news
It’s always difficult to judge a lethal action.
It looks like the police did try non lethal methods first.
“The 4 officers sent to bring Zach to a hospital for help were not properly trained nor prepared for this encounter and it resulted in the death of our son“?
Sorry for your loss, but you are wrong, Sir:
Pulling out a knife and closing the distance is a threat of deadly force.
It sucks, I get it. Being a Veteran of any class does not excuse aberrant behavior, and nor should it.
It could have easily been avoided. In fact, as a veteran, your son was specifically trained to follow loud, clear verbal orders from a person in authority. He brought a knife to a gun fight. He knew what he could expect to have happen.
Eggs-xactly. A damn shame that this young man felt that suicide by cop was the only solution to his problems. Problems which the family were aware of. They have my deepest sympathies but why do I see a “Wrongful death Civil Suit” coming in 5.4.3.2..
Dad’s gotta sue, cuz, merica.
The police in America shoot 14lb dogs, so it would appear (generally speaking) it doesn’t take very much to make an American police officer shit himself and open fire….
This case might be different, might not be…there’s enough data suggesting that in spite of the “Punisher” logos far too many cops in these United States are afraid of everything and everyone they encounter each and every day….
Maybe it’s time we go back to the kind of standards they had when I was a kid…where if you weren’t at least 200lbs and over 6′ you weren’t qualified to be a State Trooper…guys that size tend to not shit themselves when confronted by a Pomeranian and mistakenly shoot the owner while trying to get the dog….
We have a problem with our over militarized police forces in the United States….I wonder when we intend to address it, or if we ever will.
You are mixing memes, it’s the feds with the dog sniper teams. Most of them are basically liberal computer nerds.
The “FBI SWAT team” is usually a pick-up game from available agents at a field office; very few do that most of the time. (See the IRS agent range fatality lately– they don’t play CQB often either, for comparison.)
According to lore; the 6 foot standard kept the Irish out. It kinda backfired and we got the 1/2 Irish 1/2 moose cops; I mean really big cops. The big vans the police use are still called paddy wagons; an Anglicization of Paddy’s wagon.
I was visiting my folks the first time I saw a state trooper under six feet tall. She pulled me over while I was driving my brother’s car. The car had a “this didn’t pass the safety inspection” sticker on it giving the owner three days to fix it or park it. I looked in the mirror and saw a 5 foot tall (if that tall) young woman in the State Trooper uniform complete with Sam Brown belt and chrome plated .44 caliber hand cannon strolling up. I knew what the pistol was for; it was to keep horn dogs from hitting on her. She let me go with a reminder that there was just one day left to fix it and a refusal to give me her phone number.
Well, let’s take a look at that.
From Wikipedia (reference to The Washington Post):
“The Washington Post has tracked shootings since 2015, reporting more than 5,000 incidents since their tracking began. The database can also classify people in various categories including race, age, weapon etc. For 2019, it reported a total of 1,004 people shot and killed by police.According to the database, 6,600 have been killed since 2015, including 6,303 men and 294 women. Among those killed, 3,878 were armed with a gun, 1,119 were armed with a knife, 218 were armed with a vehicle, 244 had a toy weapon, and 421 were unarmed.”
It seems to me that MOST of these shootings were more than justified under the circumstances. I mean, considering that 3,878 encounters involved assailants with guns, 1,119 were armed with knives, and 218 were trying to run the officer down with a car.
Throw into the mix that it is completely justifiable to fire on someone who is pointing a replica [or “toy”] gun at you [if you’re a police officer or civilian], and it is also justifiable to use deadly force against an unarmed assailant should that assailant be capable of producing great bodily harm or death upon you.
So, where is your “enough data”?
His data is the phrase “over militarized Police”.
He isn’t involved in the job, likely would never want it but knows best how to do it.
Sucks for everyone involved that this happened. I know NOTHING about the entire situation and will speak only for myself.
The best thing I did in my life is use the BH services offered by the Army. My experience fortunately, was outstanding. My counselor truly gave a fuck.
Point is, if you know something is off and you can’t deal with it yourself, get some fucking help. There’s no weakness associated with that, IMO.
I would say that more than 90% of violent Police actions could be avoided by simply obeying instructions to;
A. Drop the weapon.
B. Follow instructions of the Deputy / Officer / Trooper.
C. Stop resisting arrest, fight the issue in court.
D. Stop breaking the damn law.
“Step 1: Obey the law. Laws were made for a reason, think of them as hints– as in ‘I wouldn’t do that sh*t if I were you.'” –Chris Rock (from “How Not to Get Your Ass Kicked by the Police”)
P.S. More specific coverage here:
Sad, but the death could have been avoided if he had just dropped the freaking knife! Tased him, shot him with a ‘sponge round’ and still kept coming after the officers.
When confronted by police, one should immediately drop anything in one’s hands. Moving toward an armed cop with anything in your hands is an invitation to be shot.