Deputy killed suicidal man who was wielding a knife in Lyons
After a nearly two-month investigation, officials have found that the shooting death of a Lyons man by a Walworth County Sheriff’s deputy was justified.
District Attorney Phillip A. Koss released his findings Monday in the May 5 shooting of John Brown in the Town of Lyons.
“…Not only do I believe that the officer’s acts were appropriate, I do not believe that any inquest is necessary in this case,” Koss wrote in a letter to Special Agent James Holmes, with the Wisconsin Department of Justice.
According to the report, on that evening of May 5, Nancy Brown, called the sheriff’s department and told them that her 22-year-old son, was at their home and suicidal.
Among those dispatched to the call was Deputy Wayne Blanchard who fired the fatal shots at Brown, as he was coming toward officers armed with a knife.
In his letter, Koss declared the shooting was “privileged and in the use of either self defense or defense of others.”
He also included details of the timeline from the night, depicting Brown’s suicidal threats.
According to Koss, John Brown had been drinking that night with a friend between 8 to 10 p.m. The friend said that Brown seemed “down” about a lot of things.
He had also reportedly been texting his ex-girlfriend and her current boyfriend stating he was angry with them and wanted to fight the boyfriend and hopes their child “dies.”
The woman reportedly became worried and called the City of Burlington Police Department at 10:50 p.m. to file a complaint. An officer from the department followed up, by telling Brown not to contact the woman further.
Brown then called a friend at 11:13 p.m. and left a voicemail stating that he loved him and would be “looking down” and “bye.”
Shortly after Brown called another friend and left a voicemail saying “I just want it to be done, please tell everyone I love them…”
Brown again called a friend at 11:41 p.m. and said he had cut himself and blood was everywhere. He also said “I’m ending it tonight.”
The friend and Brown also exchanged text and Facebook messages about his suicidal feelings.
One message said, “I love you…I won’t be able to tell you tomorrow.” He sent the friend a series of texts that stated: “I’m saying goodbye, I’m sorry, but I can’t do this anymore. Too late. Good bye. Leave me alone, it’ll make it easier. Just accept it. I won’t (sic) be able to remember or forget in a little while.”
The last text was sent at 11:17 p.m.
At 11:50 p.m. the friend called Nancy Brown who then called 911. She told them he had a knife and she was unable to take it away and he was locked in his room of their trailer home.
Deputies Chris Such and Blanchard arrived at the home shortly after midnight.
Nancy Brown told them that her son was locked in his room with a knife. The deputies then walked down the hallway to Brown’s bedroom. Such announced himself to Brown as a deputy but Brown did not respond. Such again tried to communicate and asked Brown if he remembered him from a prior contact and Brown replied with an expletive.
The deputies decided that Such would go outside to Brown’s bedroom window. Blanchard remained inside the residence to cover the bedroom door. Blanchard then entered the room by kicking in the door rather than using keys given to him by Nancy Brown.
Blanchard said he did this because Brown was armed and he did not want Brown to know that he was opening the door giving him the time to prepare to hurt anyone behind the door.
“This seems very reasonable under the circumstances,” Koss wrote. “This is especially true given that Blanchard heard Mrs. Brown say ‘why aren’t you guys doing anything? My son could be killing himself in there.’”
Once inside the room, Blanchard confronted Brown and could see Brown had a knife in his right hand. Brown then slammed the door shut.
Such returned to the house and was behind Blanchard who had his gun drawn. Such had gone for his gun but switched to his taser when he saw Blanchard had his gun drawn. Blanchard opened the door a second time and ordered Brown to drop the knife.
Brown refused and said words to the effect of “you’re going to have to shoot me.”
The deputies stated that Brown then approached Blanchard with the knife moving in an upright position. Both deputies describe Brown having a “1,000 yard stare.”
Brown still advanced on the officers and was within five to six feet when Blanchard fired two shots, killing Brown.
Brown was transferred to the Aurora Lakeland Medical Center where he was pronounced dead. Brown’s autopsy stated that his blood alcohol level was .182 percent.
The knife, described as a fully-extended “SWAT type knife” was later found by Deputy Timothy Ruszkiewicz under Brown’s body.
According to Koss, officers are trained that being within 21 feet of an individual with a knife is a deadly zone.
“While that inquest’s verdict that the officer committed no crime is not binding here, I believe it reflects the reasonableness of what the deputies did here,” he stated.
Koss further said the situation is a tragedy.
“No one involved fails to understand the seriousness of the events of that day,” he wrote, acknowledging the work done by those who investigated the shooting.
The Wisconsin Department of Justice, Division of Criminal Investigation led the investigation with the assistance of the Walworth County Sheriff’s Office.
Blanchard will be restored to full duty from administrative duty.
The complete copy of Koss’s letter is posted at the following link:
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