my name is Chris Guerrero and I'm the chief of police for the city of Kennewick officers from the Kennewick police department and deputies from the Benton County Sheriff's Office were involved in a critical incident on August 22nd 2022 the intent of this update is to provide understanding and transparency about this critical incident to ensure compliance with Washington state law enforcement's independent investigations criteria and best practices the special investigations unit or SIU took control of this investigation shortly after it occurred due to the involvement of both the Kennewick police department and the Benton County Sheriff's Office our investigators and Personnel are excluded from this investigation SIU is an independent team of skilled Regional investigators who will report their investigative findings to the Benton County prosecutor SIU conducts very thorough investigations which require investigators to interview all known Witnesses view video footage and analyze a significant amount of forensic evidence SIU is still conducting their investigation and it is not uncommon for these investigations to take months to complete additionally both the Kennewick police department and the Benton County Sheriff's Office will conduct internal administrative investigations separate of and independent to SIU these investigations are intended to determine if the actions of the officers and deputies fall within respective agencies policies and procedures once these investigations are complete the findings will be reported to me with regards to the actions of the Kennewick police officers and to Sheriff Tom Cross Creek as it relates to the actions of his deputies hello I'm Sheriff Tom Crosby I'm the Sheriff of Benton County Sheriff's Office this critical incident update is intended to provide you with information about an officer-involved shooting that occurred in the city of Kennewick in Benton County Washington this incident involved deputies from the Benton County Sheriff's Office and officers from the Kennewick Police Department the Benton County Sheriff's Office is committed to working in collaboration with the community and our local law enforcement Partners in order to provide the highest quality of Public Safety to the Benton County Community the Benton County Sheriff's Office provides law enforcement services to all community members regardless of whether they live in the unincorporated areas or the Incorporated areas of Benton County our primary responsibility is to respond to calls for service in unincorporated Benton County however the deputies do respond to calls for service inside cities located within Benton County we have great working relationships with our neighboring law enforcement Partners our deputies will respond to calls for service within the neighboring agencies for many different reasons a few of those reasons include but are not limited to when an officer calls for assistance or when the incident inside the city has the potential to put community members at risk or simply because they are in the area of a call for service in conclusion deputies and officers often respond to rapidly evolving dangerous situations and overwhelmingly majority of those incidents deputies and officers resolved them peacefully when a deputy or officer uses Force to arrest a suspect or to defend against an attack it can be graphic and difficult to watch the images language and information you're about to see may be disturbing viewer discretion is advised especially for young children and sensitive viewers hello I'm Lieutenant Jason Erickson the public information officer of the Benton County Sheriff's office I'm going to give you a brief overview of an incident that occurred on August 22nd 2022 at around 10 23 a.m Kennewick police officers were dispatched to the Circle K at 7707 West Deschutes Avenue for a welfare check of a subject who has passed out or slumped over the wheel and parked by a fuel pump two Benton County deputies were near Deschutes Avenue in Columbia Center Boulevard they stopped at the Circle K to assist the KPD officers body-worn cameras are used by Benton County Sheriff's Office deputies and by Kennewick Police Department officers assigned a patrol they are usually worn at chest level and capture a general perspective within line of sight from that angle the angle of the camera prohibits viewers from seeing everything the deputies and officers see and experience the body worn cameras used carry a 30 second buffer of video without audio when a body-worn camera is activated it goes back 30 seconds and starts recording the video does not have a recording of any sound during the first 30 seconds this feature is designed to capture police activity that occurred suddenly where deputies or officers don't immediately activate the camera these videos you are about to see also contain the audio portion which records after officers activate their body worn cameras Kennewick police officers arrived on scene and found a male suspect passed out in the driver's seat of a vehicle which was stopped next to the gas pumps at the Circle K deputies arrived at the scene and contacted the officer on the passenger side of the suspect's vehicle the officer announces their presence again and touches the suspect to wake the suspect up the officer talks to and attempts to de-escalate the situation the suspect tries to put what appears to be a screwdriver in the ignition of the vehicle the officer opens the door and orders the suspect out of the vehicle from The deputy's View on the passenger side of the vehicle the suspect reaches for an object on his right side the deputy announces the object as a gun the suspect exits the vehicle and begins to flee the suspect runs north on Columbia Center Boulevard through the intersection of Columbia Center Boulevard and Deschutes Avenue this intersection is heavily traveled by pedestrian and vehicle traffic a KPD officer deploys a less lethal taser at the suspect in an effort to stop the fleeing suspect the taser is ineffective the suspect continues to run towards an apartment complex at 425 North Columbia Center Boulevard as a suspect flees and runs down the sidewalk he removes a gun from his waistband officers and deputies gave multiple commands to the suspect to drop the gun however the suspect refuses to comply with their commands and shoots the gun the suspect runs into a densely populated apartment complex the suspect slows and puts the gun to his own head deputies and officers give the suspect commands to drop the gun but the suspect does not comply with their commands which resulted in a deputy shooting at the suspect at this time the suspect goes to the ground an officer announces the gun is next to the suspect the suspect is ordered to roll away from the gun and the suspect complies the officers and deputies immediately take the suspect into custody provide the suspect with first aid and call for paramedics it was determined at that time the suspect was not struck by gunfire the suspect was transported to a local hospital where he was later released and booked into the Benton County Corrections Center foreign hello Kettle police kennel police wake up call the police oh welcome please all right hey you all right man come on okay well you were passed out of the pump for a little bit I'm gonna go turn the car off no no no okay you're just gonna take off I have to bro why okay I have somebody to do it no just turn the car off right now no sir uh let's Circle I have a condition [Applause] kill the police I have a condition he's reaching break up his reaching for God he's reaching for God drop the gun he's got a gun out throw up the gun you fired yeah she's five one shot [Applause] get on the ground she's got a gun to his head now let's jump off air conditioning leave me alone oh my god did he fire yeah foreign where's the gun Channel with me you see the guns again we're at 425 North CCV right by the main entrance behind me buddy roll over get your hands up I could not see the gun where's it at First Take behind you where's it at and cover you see the gun go this way see the gun go this way okay coming over your side you ready [Applause] okay dad go holster up we'll move because I'm sorry okay [Music] forgive me the Benton County Sheriff's Office believes in key principles in maintaining public trust are preserving life protecting our community and ensuring all uses of force are reasonable the use of deadly force can be traumatic for all involved each encounter is unique and requires deputies and officers to make split-second decisions during tense uncertain and rapidly evolving circumstances without the benefit of hindsight thank you for taking the time to view this critical incident Community briefing