Boise police identify officer in fatal shooting. ‘I understand frustration,’ chief says
The Boise Police Department announced Friday that an investigation of last Saturday’s fatal police shooting was underway, and also identified the officer who killed Payton Wasson, 22, of Nampa.
Chance Feldner, an 8 1/2-year veteran of BPD, was the officer who fired his weapon at Wasson as he fled. He has been placed on paid administrative leave, which is standard procedure after a critical incident, according to a news release.
The Ada County Coroner’s Office said in a report Monday that Wasson had been shot in the head. He died in the hospital Sunday.
In a news release announcing a Friday press conference, Boise Police Chief Ron Winegar called the shooting a “tragedy” for the Wasson family, as well as witnesses and “our community.”
“If this incident involved a member of my family, I too would want more information about what happened,” he said in the release. “We are investigating what happened to ensure integrity and accountability.”
Winegar said at the press conference that he was unsure whether Wasson, who police said was armed, made any specific threats before he was shot and that it’s too early to tell whether proper police procedures were followed. He confirmed that there is body camera footage of the shooting but said he didn’t know whether all officers at the scene had their cameras activated.
The laws about the use of deadly force are “pretty clear-cut,” Winegar said. An officer must feel threatened or someone else must be threatened by a suspect. An officer can include in that decision what they know about the subject and the conditions of the particular situation, he said.
“I understand frustration. I understand anger. I understand questioning,” the police chief said.
Winegar appeared to tear up when he said that detectives have been in touch with Wasson’s family and that it’s never a good day when someone dies or is injured.
“My heart goes out to the Wasson family. We cannot bring back someone who has been killed, but we can ensure integrity and accountability in the processes that ensue,” Winegar said.
Friday’s news release from police provided a little more information on what preceded the shooting.
Police were investigating “a situation involving individuals and a vehicle” in what they believed to be “gang activity and/or narcotics sales” at around 1 a.m. Saturday in the vicinity of 5th and Idaho streets. Officers identified the owner of the vehicle, and at 2:12 a.m., they approached after its owner’s parole officer had requested a search.
As they tried to make contact with people in the vehicle, Wasson fled from the scene with a gun in his hand, police said, and he refused commands to stop. Police said a firearm was recovered next to him after he was shot.
The car owner was detained, searched and arrested on a drug charge, according to police and court records.
The Ada County Sheriff’s Office is leading the Critical Incident Task Force investigation into the shooting, which Winegar noted can be a very lengthy process. Once completed, CITF reviews are referred to prosecutors to decide on justification or charges.
A rally was organized by Black Lives Matter Boise and others to take place Friday at 6 p.m. at Boise City Hall to protest the shooting.
Winegar said he understands that people are emotional about the shooting. He said that there would be a police presence at the event and that he was not expecting problems.
“We would ask that everyone be safe,” he said.
Boise Mayor Lauren McLean posted a statement about the shooting on Twitter Friday.
“Payton Wasson’s death is a tragedy, and his family is grieving a world-shattering loss,” she wrote. “I stand with Chief Winegar’s commitment to pursuing urgent and appropriate accountability, and know our community expects nothing less.”
Feldner, the officer involved, is the son of late New Plymouth Police Officer Wade Feldner, who was shot and killed in 1994 by 14-year-old James Robert Lee Moore, according to a 2000 Idaho Statesman story about a vigil for the officer.
Wade Feldner had stopped in the New Plymouth High School parking lot to investigate a suspicious vehicle when he was gunned down by the teenager.
Moore was denied parole in 2018 but granted parole in 2021, according to Idaho Department of Correction records.
This story was originally published June 30, 2023 at 12:12 PM.
