How Boise police used a rifle, drone, ladder to stop a Meridian campground shooter
Boise police officers used a rifle, a drone and two handguns to stop a man who was firing shots in a Meridian campground in August 2020, according to a city of Boise report.
The harrowing details of the shooting, many of which had not been previously released, were included in a report from the Office of Police Accountability. The report was quietly posted to the city’s website on Jan. 31.
The report doesn’t include names or dates, but there are enough details to match it to the Aug. 31, 2020, incident at a KOA campground in Meridian. Arthur Ferrel, 58 of Kuna, was shot and killed by police after firing “dozens” of shots, according to a police news release at the time. The Boise Police Department officers had responded to assist the Meridian Police Department, according to the report.
The report concurs with the Office of Internal Affairs’ “conclusion that the involved officers acted in a manner consistent with BPD’s policy and procedures governing the use of deadly force.” It’s signed by Office of Police Accountability Director Jesus Jara.
However, Jara also criticized the level of communication among officers at the scene and the potential dangers that resulted.
Three Boise officers fired their guns that night. The officers were previously identified by the Boise Police Department as A. Morlock, J. Green and S. Martinez. The police accountability report, however, does not identify the officers, so it’s unclear which took each action.
Here’s what took place, according to Jara’s report:
- Police received reports that a man was firing a gun inside his camper “indiscriminately.” Bullets traveled through the walls of the man’s camper and damaged nearby RVs, which were occupied. “The ongoing gunfire and darkness kept the officers from safely evacuating many neighboring campers,” the report says. The campground was “crowded.”
- A Boise officer with a rifle set up in a prone position on the ground and could see the man through a large window. The officer watched the man fire in the direction of a nearby trailer. When the man raised his gun again, the officer fired his rifle and hit the man, who fell to the floor. BPD did not include the use of a rifle in its news releases about the incident.
- Police flew a drone to the back window of the camper to see what was happening inside. “The drone revealed that the subject was bleeding from a chest wound but was moving on the floor and was reloading a handgun,” the report says. The man began shooting again.
- Officers devised a plan to approach the rear window of the camper. Two Boise officers — but not the one who fired his rifle — used the rear bumper and ladder attached to the camper to look through the window. “As officers #2 and #3 were at the window, the subject abruptly rolled over toward them with his right arm outstretched with a gun in his right hand. Both officer #2 and officer #3 fired their duty handguns at the subject in self-defense. The subject was struck by gunfire and was incapacitated, dropping the handgun at his side,” according to the report.
- Officers broke through a barricade at the door to enter the camper and attempt to treat the man, who died.
Jara’s report said there wasn’t enough coordination between the Boise and Meridian officers in a situation that was “complex and extremely dangerous to all involved, especially the bystanders in the area.”
Specifically, an incident command structure would have been helpful, Jara wrote, and can prevent “crossfire and friendly fire situations between different groups of officers acting independently.”
The officer who fired his rifle didn’t communicate that to anyone else, the report says.
“Officers could hear the distinct difference in the rifle fire as opposed to the subject’s continuous handgun fire but were not aware if the rifle fire was from an officer, the subject, or another person altogether,” the report says. “It appears there was sufficient time and distance between Officer #1 and the subject firing a handgun to make some form of communication either immediately before taking such action or immediately after where the element of surprise was not compromised.”
The report indicates that the external Critical Incident Task Force has completed its investigation of the shooting. No conclusions have been announced.
The report on the August 2020 case was one of six posted to the city of Boise’s website in recent months. Highlights from the other five include:
(Note: Names and some dates aren’t in the reports, but the Statesman was able to match the provided details to some known cases):
▪ Jara concluded that a cost-saving policy regarding holiday staffing prevented a K-9 officer from being available for an incident on Jan. 1, 2018.
Police were responding to a “man with a gun call.” The man did not respond to commands to show his hands. He was shot but survived. The man turned out not to have a gun. His only weapon was a knife “stuck in the flesh of his leg,” according to Jara’s report.
BPD at the time said a knife was found on his person, according to previous Statesman reporting.
The staffing policy ended in October 2021, according to the report.
The officer who fired was cleared of any wrongdoing by the Twin Falls County prosecutor as part of the Criminal Incident Task Force investigation.
▪ Jara concurred with previous conclusions that Boise Police Officer Rob Rainford was justified in shooting and killing Noel Rodriguez on June 14, 2016. The report details an encounter with a suspected drunken driver, who used a large screwdriver to ward off an officer long enough to drive away.
About 30 minutes later, officers found Rodriguez and boxed him in with patrol cars. Rodriguez tried to flee again but couldn’t get his car free. He continued to rev his engine and spin his tires, creating smoke and rocking the police cars, according to the report. Eventually, Rainford fired one shot from “a few feet away” on the driver’s side of the car.
▪ In the spring of 2016, an officer fired at a woman and missed during a foot pursuit in a neighborhood. The woman, who the report says had pointed a gun toward two officers, ran away again. When officers caught up with her, they realized she had a BB gun and took her into custody, according to the report. A search of the Idaho Statesman archive didn’t produce any information on that case.
The report notes that the officer’s bullet “lodged itself into the lower northeast corner exterior of a neighboring residence.” The report concurs with an internal affairs conclusion that the officer’s actions followed policy.
▪ The Office of Police Accountability investigated accusations that an officer used unnecessary force in spring 2016. The officer did not use a weapon, according to the report, and was cleared of wrongdoing. He had responded to a “man with a gun” call. When he was unable to subdue the man by himself, three witnesses — including one wearing a motorcycle helmet with a video camera that recorded the incident — helped.
▪ Jara cited two policy violations by officers who did not turn on their body cameras during the 2021 shooting of Mohamud Hassan Mkoma. The report otherwise cleared the officers of wrongdoing.
This story was originally published March 30, 2022 at 4:00 AM.
