6 were shot by police in Boise area last year. Where are the investigations now?
Last year, six people were shot by police in the Treasure Valley.
Two were killed. Four were injured.
Out of those shootings, over a dozen officers were involved from six different agencies, a sharp decline from 2021, when the Treasure Valley saw 11 police shootings. In 2021, six were fatal, four were nonfatal, and one — the shooting at a Boise mall — involved officers firing at the shooter, who killed himself and two others.
Idaho Peace Officers Standards and Training Academy Training Coordinator Kevin Graham told the Idaho Statesman that officers are authorized to shoot to kill when the risk of imminent danger is high. Officers aren’t trained to shoot to injure, by hitting an arm or a leg, he said.
“Once you’re pulling that (trigger), you are authorized to use deadly force,” Graham said in an in-person interview.
If someone is shot by the police, authorities create a Critical Incident Task Force to review the incident. The probe entails the assignment of an outside police agency, which will investigate the incident and then pass those materials onto an external prosecutor’s office for review.
Agencies can also activate the task force for other incidents in which an officer uses or attempts to use force or violence against a person. It is not a requirement in Ada County for a different prosecutor to review the case, Ada County Prosecutor’s Office spokesperson Emily Lowe told the Idaho Statesman, but they “believe it is best practice to do so.”
In the case of a shooting in Boise, the Office of Police Accountability also reviews the incident. The office functions as a semi-independent office reporting directly to Mayor Lauren McLean and Boise City Council.
Below are descriptions of all nonfatal and fatal shootings in the Treasure Valley, and of one fatal shooting that occurred in Owyhee County last year. Most of the shootings are still under investigation.
Man killed after police tried to serve restraining order
Just outside the Treasure Valley in Owyhee County, 54-year-old Charles Corey Castro was shot and killed by police on Jan. 3, 2022, after two sheriff’s deputies tried to serve him a restraining order.
The two officers — Deputy Richard Demurjian and Lt. David Reed— who shot Castro were “legally justified” in their actions to use deadly force, according to an April letter by Adams County Prosecuting Attorney Christopher Boyd and additional investigative reports. He said his office wouldn’t pursue criminal charges.
Canyon County Sheriff Kieran Donahue told reporters in January 2022 that authorities would release the officers’ names in the coming days, but the names were never released. The Statesman was able to learn the officers’ names a year later, by obtaining the Critical Incident Task Force reports through the public records process. The Owyhee County Sheriff’s Office, which is responsible for releasing the names, did not respond to emails from the Statesman.
READ MORE: Canyon County investigating officer-involved shooting that killed Murphy man
Boise police shoot man carrying ‘deadly weapon’
On Feb. 22, 25-year-old Jonathan Manee was seen blocking the road on Fairview Avenue between North Liberty and North Hartman streets with a vehicle, and attempting to flag down other drivers, witnesses said.
After a “brief interaction” with an officer who had arrived, the officer shot and wounded Manee, according to police. The officer was later identified as 16-year Boise police veteran Cody Evans. Manee was taken to a local hospital for treatment.
Manee allegedly displayed or threatened to use a firearm before the officer fired his weapon, according to documents previously obtained by the Statesman. The Boise Police Department never disclosed whether Manee was carrying a gun but said he had a “deadly weapon” in a March news release.
Manee, of Boise, was charged with aggravated assault on law enforcement personnel and an enhancement for the alleged use of a firearm during the commission of a crime. He pleaded not guilty to the two felonies in February.
The Ada County Sheriff’s Office is leading the Critical Incident Task Force into Manee’s shooting, and that investigation is still ongoing, Haley Williams, a spokesperson for the Boise Police Department, told the Statesman by email.
READ MORE: 25-year-old Boise man shot, injured by police pleads not guilty to aggravated assault
Police chase leads to shooting
Just before 1:30 p.m. June 9, a 40-year-old man, Jake Cottrell, was allegedly involved in a shooting with two Department of Correction parole officers on West Shields Avenue in Boise and fled the scene in a stolen car.
While Boise officers were searching for the stolen vehicle, police received a report of a carjacking on Eagle Road. According to a criminal complaint submitted by the Ada County Prosecutor’s Office, Cottrell “pointed a pistol” at a man and demanded a 2015 Dodge truck.
Boise and Meridian police began pursuing Cottrell, and the chase ended near Meridian Road and Broadway Avenue in Meridian after a Boise officer performed a pursuit intervention technique — a maneuver used to force a vehicle to stop.
Cottrell allegedly exchanged gunfire with three Boise police officers and two Meridian officers, who shot him and began performing lifesaving measures. Cottrell was taken to a local hospital, where he remained for almost a month under the custody of the Ada County Jail. No officers or civilians were injured, police said in a news release.
Cottrell was charged with seven felonies: two counts of assault or battery upon certain personnel, grand theft, robbery, unlawful possession by a convicted felon, eluding a police officer, and an enhancement for use of a deadly weapon in the commission of a crime.
The Boise Police Department was the first to identify the officers involved, including Cpl. Brek Orton, a 23-year veteran of Boise police; Sgt. Kirk Rush, who has been with the department for 18 years; and Connor Burch, an officer for over four years.
Seven months after the shooting, the Idaho Department of Correction released the names of the two officers, Felipe Moran and Brett Wilkins, in an email to the Statesman. Meridian police haven’t released the names of their two officers and previously said in a news release that the names wouldn’t be released until the investigation was completed.
READ MORE: Details of Boise, Meridian shootings emerge in criminal complaint against Idaho man
Armed suspect fatally shot in Star
In the morning of June 15, Star police received a report of a man “acting erratically and refusing to leave a family member’s home,” Star Police Chief Zach Hessing said. Officers arrived at the home and spoke with 39-year-old Jeremy Banach, who agreed to leave. Officers noticed he carried a gun and were told he had stolen a gun the night before.
Police said they began a firearm investigation, and found Banach an hour later near the Star Mercantile parking lot. Police said he was armed and “uncooperative,” and that’s when the shooting occurred. Authorities attempted to save Banach’s life, but he died at the scene. The Ada County Coroner’s Office identified Banach’s cause of death as multiple gunshot wounds.
According to the Ada County Sheriff’s Office, the three officers involved in the shooting were put on administrative leave. The sheriff’s office will not disclose the names of the officers involved until a prosecutorial review of the incident is complete, Patrick Orr, the office’s spokesperson, told the Statesman.
The fatal shooting was investigated by the Boise Police Department, Orr said by email. The Ada County Prosecutor’s Office, as of mid-December, was deciding which prosecutor’s office to send the investigation to for review, Lowe said.
READ MORE: Star police shooting leaves one dead, Ada County sheriff says. What we know
Man shot after allegedly assaulting sheriff’s deputy
Around 3:40 p.m. on July 13, Nampa police received a report of a possible shooting near the intersection of Middleton Road and Flamingo Avenue, according to a news release from the Nampa Police Department. While in a vehicle, the suspect allegedly shot another motorist. The motorist survived and gave police a description of the vehicle and the direction it was headed.
A Canyon County sheriff’s deputy located the vehicle at 5:05 p.m. near Cassia Street and Karcher Road and performed a traffic stop. The suspect, identified as 41-year-old Rolando Castillo, exited his vehicle and allegedly assaulted the deputy, police said. In response, the deputy shot him.
Castillo was taken and later released from a local hospital, according to the Nampa news release.
Police said they located a gun that had been reported as stolen in Castillo’s possession. He was booked into the Canyon County Jail on multiple felony charges. He pleaded not guilty to felony grand theft and a misdemeanor for attempting to elude an officer in a motor vehicle in August, the remaining eight felonies were dismissed, according to online court records.
Decker told the Statesman that the Canyon County Sheriff’s Office will not release the name of the officer involved until a CITF investigation is complete.
The Nampa Police Department was in charge of the investigation, and according to Decker, the investigation has been turned over to the Canyon County Prosecutor’s Office, which will determine which outside prosecutor reviews the case.
READ MORE: Nampa shooting suspect identified, allegedly assaulted deputy
Man shot in Boise allegedly held knife
Boise police had been looking for Jeremy Waste, 30, after he allegedly stabbed his father in the neck several times and fled the scene on Nov. 18. His father survived, according to a news release, and police obtained a warrant for his arrest for aggravated battery.
Police located Waste in southeast Boise on Nov. 21, and while attempting to take him into custody, police said Waste, of Garden City, tried to flee and charged at an officer, prompting another officer to shoot Waste.
The officer who fired the shot was identified as Kip Paporello, a nearly 24-year veteran of the Boise Police Department.
Ada County Deputy Prosecutor Garrett Swenson said at an arraignment hearing that officers made several attempts to reposition themselves to keep a police vehicle between them and Waste, because Waste was holding a knife.
Waste was taken to a hospital and then booked into the Ada County Jail on four felony charges for allegedly attacking his father and police. Waste arrived at his arraignment the following day with one arm in a cast.
The Meridian Police Department is still investigating the shooting, Williams said.
READ MORE: Man shot by Boise police was wanted in father’s stabbing, prosecutors say in court
Caldwell man killed during domestic violence investigation
On Nov. 26, Caldwell police arrived at a residence on the 600 block of North Kimball Avenue to investigate a domestic violence case. Upon arrival, police said they discovered a man had “barricaded himself inside a home with the child.”
After “several hours of negotiations,” police said the SWAT team was deployed to execute an arrest warrant for 42-year-old Jorge Martinez Sanchez, who was fatally shot during the incident. Two Caldwell officers fired their weapons during the incident, Idaho State Police spokesperson Tecia Ferguson said. Idaho State Police previously told the Statesman that Martinez Sanchez had an “edged weapon.”
The Caldwell Police Department will not release the names of the two officers involved in the shooting until after the investigation is completed, spokesperson Char Jackson previously told the Statesman.
State police are leading the investigation into the shooting of Martinez Sanchez, and spokesperson Aaron Snell told the Statesman by email that the crime scene has been reviewed. Interviews are completed but “detectives continue working on the case,” Snell said.
READ MORE: Coroner’s office identifies Caldwell man killed by police in domestic violence call
Boise police want thousands for CITF reports
Out of the 11 police shootings in 2021, at least 10 of the investigations were completed. All of the officers in the 10 completed investigations were cleared of any wrongdoing by investigators and outside prosecutors.
Some of the incidents in which prosecutors declined to file charges against officers include the attempted use of force against Jacob Bergquist, who opened fire in the Boise mall, the high-profile shooting of Mohamud Hassan Mkoma, an East African refugee who was shot five and injured by police and 26-year-old Zachary Snow.
The Statesman has requested the investigative reports and body camera footage from four finalized shootings — including Bergquist and Snow — within the Boise Police Department, but was informed that it would cost over $4,500 to obtain those documents and videos.
Idaho State Police released the investigative documents into the fatal shooting of 51-year-old Dawn Simpson’s shooting to the Statesman for approximately $109, and the Canyon County Sheriff’s Office released over 400 pages of documents into multiple shootings at no cost. The Ada County Sheriff’s Office has also recently created a website to provide Critical Incident Task Force reports for free.
Fatal police shootings in Idaho lower than in 2021
Boise State University professor William King, who chairs the Criminal Justice Department, said shooting a human-sized target is difficult, and officers aren’t accurate 100% of the time.
He pointed to a study by the City University of New York’s John Jay College of Criminal Justice, which found officer “hit rates” — whether an individual hits the target — were typically “well below” 50%.
“The research examining shooter accuracy overwhelmingly debunks the Hollywood myth of police officers as sharpshooters who can wing suspects in the shoulder, or leg, or shoot weapons out of suspects’ hands,” the report said.
Last year, Idaho saw seven fatal shootings, which is nearly half of the number of fatal police shootings that occurred in 2021. Idaho law enforcement personnel shot and killed 12 people in 2021, the highest number that the state has seen since 2018.
The number of fatal police shootings throughout Idaho has fluctuated in recent years, but King told the Statesman that the number of fatalities in the Treasure Valley last year isn’t high.
“That’s absolutely where you want to be,” King said.
Tim Elwell, another training coordinator with POST, told the Statesman in an interview that the number of police shootings in the Treasure Valley is a “very low number,” especially when the increase in population was factored in.
“Law enforcement officers, although we train them, they all deep down inside hope they never have to pull the trigger,” Elwell said.
Reporter Ian Max Stevenson contributed.
This story was originally published January 15, 2023 at 4:00 AM with the headline "6 were shot by police in Boise area last year. Where are the investigations now?."
