Kionte Spencer, the 18 year old shot by Roanoke County police officers after he refused to put down what turned out to be a defective air gun pistol, had a troubled life and “probably suffered from mental illness.” That was the assessment of county police chief Howard Hall on the day that Commonwealth’s Attorney Randy Leach announced that he “could not in good conscience” bring charges against the officers after determining that the shooting had been justified.
Spencer was living in a transitional home near the intersection of Brambleton Avenue and Electric Road where he was shot and later died, after a driver called 9-1-1 to report someone walking down the road brandishing what appeared to be a gun.
Before a news conference announcing no charges would be filed against any of the officers involved, dash cam videos taken from patrol cars showed repeated attempts by officers to get Spencer to drop the weapon; despite wearing headphones he appeared to turn around on a number of occasions, suggesting that he knew the police were there.
Grainy video makes it hard to see what happened at the moment Spencer was shot, but several officers gave sworn statements that he did raise his right hand, which held the air gun. At this moment, they shot and struck him in two spots. He died a short time later at the hospital. Hall said Roanoke County police will not release the dash cam videos to the public but will make still photos taken from that video available on their Facebook page. The chief did say that Spencer’s family can have a private viewing of those videos if they request it.
It may not be over just yet, although Leach said after three days of reviewing all of the evidence collected by Roanoke County Police, he felt confident enough about making a decision without bringing in an outside investigating body.
The president of Roanoke’s NAACP chapter, Brenda Hale, isn’t so sure and intends to file a request in Washington asking that the U.S. Justice Department review the case. That filing could come by early June, said Hale. “We are still going to pursue our course of action. We still are not pleased with everything that was presented [by Hall and Leach]. There are other things that need to be disclosed and the whole video has never been reviewed by any of us.”
Hale says the NAACP on the local and state level wants to know if “every policy and every procedure was adhered to” by county police. Some members of the media asked why police officers couldn’t have waited Spencer out, or deployed other methods to stop him from walking, like a bean bag gun that was enroute with a supervisor, or a K-9 unit that was on site but not deployed. Taser guns used were ineffective when the darts used to deliver electric current failed to find their mark on Spencer.
Hall outlined a litany of personal issues and the medications Spencer had stopped taking when describing the teen’s challenging life. Taken from his natural parents at age two due to abuse issues, Spencer was in foster homes, had minor run-ins with the law, and experienced trouble at school.
None of that, said Hale, explains the Spencer shooting to her satisfaction. “It’s very disconcerting that he [Hall] has total control about the video and [conducted] such a closed investigation,” said Hale, who added that distrust about the video and the February 26 incident in general demands a review from the Justice Department.
By Gene Marrano